would you strum on mine
by seaweedbraens
Summary: Percy's been waiting to get a soulmate all his life, but when Annabeth gets her red string before him and refuses to tell him who it links to, he begins to wonder if the universe is screwing him over after all. [soulmate au :: percy/annabeth :: companion piece to 'if i were to pluck on your heartstrings']


**a/n:** so this is a companion piece to a previous fic of mine called _if i were to pluck on your heartstrings,_ only this part is told entirely in percy's pov. i'd recommend reading the other part as well, mostly because i've never attempted something like this before and i'd like opinions on how both fics line up with each other.

but also! i want this fic to be able to work by itself, and if you haven't read my other fic, then just remember:

●red strings are for soulmates  
●yellow strings symbolize very deep friendships, the kind that won't ever break  
●green strings connect to old friends or people you had a connection to in the past  
●blue strings are for family  
●purple strings denote a person's first love  
●brown strings are for people who keep you grounded, who you know you can count on

≻ i've also used this idea of dual-colored strings. it's like this: a single string that links two people can be different colors depending on how each person feels for the other. if person 1 considers person 2 a friend, then their half of the string will be yellow, but if the person 2 had once loved person 1, their half will be purple.

i know it's a little convoluted, but i hope you guys like the story nevertheless xoxo

* * *

 **would you strum on mine;**

 **/**

For Percy, the strings of fate are something of a wonderful mystery, one that he can't wait to uncover.

Some of his earliest memories are of him and his mother at Central Park, Percy pointing at people rather shamelessly as he tried to guess the color of their strings. His mom would reward him with a blue jellybean if he was right, and one of another color when he wasn't (it's a miracle he didn't get chubby).

His mom can see strings of all colors, which he still thinks is the coolest thing ever, but she'd always assured him of the opposite.

"It's like peering into someone else's life," she says, "and seeing everything about them. Nobody should be able to know that much."

"But it's cool," Percy had said.

She cracked a smile. "Yeah, it is pretty cool."

Percy can't see all the strings (boo). He can only see the strings on his own hand, and he can only see the entirety of each string if the string is the same colour, something he'd figured out when Rachel's end of their string had turned purple. He'd still been able to see his half of the string (yellow), but the color had faded into nothingness as the string extended.

It hurts to look at, sometimes.

"Strings are fickle," Annabeth had declared savagely when he'd told her. "They're temperamental and annoying and I don't understand them at all." Percy had nodded in agreement at this, looking quickly at his hand and following the yellow string that led from his pinkie to hers, just to make sure: he spots Annabeth looking at their string, too, and grins. For someone who'd proclaimed herself a 'nonbeliever,' she sure cared a lot about the strings: she just tended to get frustrated at anything she couldn't understand.

But really, though, who understood the strings? Even Percy, who had already stuffed every known fact and tidbit about soulmates into his brain by the time he was ten, knows that there's still a lot he doesn't know about the strings.

The strings are, essentially, a bond. They can mean anything from friendship to enemies to old flames, and they change color as the relationship between two people change. Some people even have different colors on the same string, which just means that they view each other differently.

Percy's got a lot of strings. Yellow ones for Grover and Jason and Rachel, blue ones for his mom and Paul. Annabeth's string is yellow, too, but lately it's turned into a color so blinding it's nearly white. Annabeth likes to think that it means their friendship is stronger and purer than anyone else's. She can be awfully irrational about the soulstrings sometimes, particularly regarding the one connecting the two of them – she'd once said that their string was actually thicker than the others, which probably meant that their friendship was the strongest it could be, right? Right _? Right, Percy?_

"Stop being stupid, all the strings are thin as hell," he'd said, and Annabeth had made a face in response.

Plus, their string feels different, which sounds stupid and cheesy but it isn't. Percy feels closer to Annabeth when he touches her string, like he can actually feel her presence, even when she's not right next to him. Percy still swears, to this day, that he felt _something_ that first day of kindergarten during recess, when he was just standing, out of the way of everyone, and then he just…fell.

Percy had, predictably, burst into tears. Everyone had looked over, curious, except for a blonde girl close by who laughed, which made him cry harder. Afterwards, though, she'd offered him a hand, helped dust the dirt off his clothes, and introduced herself as Annabeth Chase.

He found out, years later, that Annabeth had discovered her first yellow string at the time, and had tugged on it pretty forcefully in her curiosity. The string had led to him, which means that Annabeth is the reason his jaw has never felt the same way since, but she just rolls her eyes every time he brings it up.

He knows he's being stupid: the strings pass through all solids like they're made of ghost-y material, but sue him. He feels _something_ when Annabeth touches the string, and he knows Annabeth feels it too, however much she tries to deny it.

Percy doesn't have a red string yet. He's not bitter about that, nope.

Thing is, he's wanted a red string ever since he found out about soulmates. He's seen his mom fall out of love and in again, and he's convinced that his red string is on its way, too. He's been asking Piper like some kind of desperate freak about a red string, too, wondering aloud if he'd get a new red string for a new person or if one of his other strings would change color.

"For real, though," he tells Annabeth the day before senior year, "I feel like this is the year."

He sees Annabeth roll her eyes and let out a little sigh. He doesn't blame her. He's been saying this every year since forever, and nothing's happened, but something is different this time, okay?

"Percy-" she begins.

"I can feel it, Annabeth." He looks at her hopefully. "This is the year. I'm gonna make it the year I get my soulmate. And you'll get yours, too."

Annabeth looks at him critically, grey gaze practically boring a hole through him, but Percy's been Annabeth's friend since birth, pretty much, and her stares don't intimidate him (that much) anymore. Plus, despite all of her efforts to act nonchalant, she's actually a big softie when it comes to anything where her friends are involved and can rarely refuse him anything. He knows this. She knows he knows, too.

"I…don't really care," she admits. Percy blinks at her rather rapidly, then, and she huffs, semi-annoyed, but also amused.

"But yeah," she says. "Uh, go for it."

He grins; she sticks her tongue out at him, and then begins talking about this cool part in some book about architecture he doesn't really know anything about, but he nods along and says "Mmmm," at all the right places, because he knows it'll make her happy.

Truthfully, though, his mind is a million miles away. He thinks about the red string he knows will show up tomorrow. He wonders who his soulmate will be. He gazes at Annabeth. Her eyes are shining and her lips are curved into a smile that appears only when she talks about architecture. He smiles. This is going to be good year, he thinks. The best year.

This year is going to be the year that Percy gets his soulmate.

 **/**

The first day of 'the year that Percy gets his soulmate' begins with Percy oversleeping, obviously.

He hadn't slept a consecutive four hours the night before, full of nervous jitters for what was to come. He'd stared his mother in the face for a full thirty seconds, unmoving and uncomprehending, when she tried to wake him up. She had looked spooked, but then had shoved some blue waffles into his hands and kicked him out of the house. So of course Percy had slept on the stairs while attempting to lace his sneakers. Sally Jackson, had, half an hour later, left the house to find her son snoozing on the stairs. She'd yelled at him that he was late, Percy had stumbled downstairs, and had literally sleepwalked in the opposite direction for about an hour, only realizing his mistake when he found himself near the taco place near his mom's old art studio.

He almost gets run over by a truck, too, but that's trivial.

Finally awake, Percy checks his phone and sees a flurry of new messages. A few are from Jason, Frank, and Grover; Annabeth's sent him a bunch of angry faces and a message that says _where are you?_

Percy quickly types out a reply to Jason, whose text had been the most recent, explaining that he'd be there by lunch. He runs the rest of the way to school, crossing Annabeth's building, where he waves a hello to her dad, leaving for work, and his own building, past which he runs quickly, hoping his mom isn't looking out of the window.

He reaches the dingy old school right around lunchtime: the guard at the gate shakes his head in exasperation as Percy sprints in; Percy shoots him a thumbs up and the old man guffaws, too used to his behaviour after all these years.

He makes his way into the cafeteria, bumping into about a dozen people on the way to his usual table; he bumps into a girl holding, like, fifty spoons, for some reason, and his apologies are lost in the sound of the cutlery hitting the ground.

Percy's about done with his entire life by the time he gets to his table. The only free seat is next to Grover, and he slams his butt onto it gratefully. Nobody even looks up at his sudden appearance, but Percy needs to vent and so he grabs Jason's burger, ignoring Jason's cry of protest, and goes, "You guys, you would not believe this-" and begins on a long and exaggerated spiel about the morning's events.

"Your fault for oversleeping," Piper grunts. "Again."

"You're just mad because I didn't make it on the first morning of our last year as highschoolers," Percy says.

"Is it so wrong to have a little emotion about this?" Piper says shrilly, "I swear, I'm the only one who ever cares-"

"Give me back my burger," Jason says.

Percy takes a bite. "No. I'm hungry, I didn't have anything for breakfast."

"You literally just said you had waffles," Jason yelps.

"Here, Percy," Juniper, i.e the only decent person in Percy's friend group, says, handing over a little box of fries. "I'm full, I don't need this."

"Oh, bless you," Percy says fervently, taking the fries as Jason seizes the opportunity (and his burger). "I swear, Juniper, you're the only nice one in this whole entire school."

Which sets everyone off into a chorus of "What about me?" and "Well, asshole, go find yourself some new friends," and Percy laughs, why would he ever want to find new friends?

Everyone's still talking around him, so Percy takes a quick look around the table until he gets to Annabeth. She's holding her fork halfway to her mouth, expression stricken. Percy follows her gaze and sees that she's glaring at a spot near his wrist. He raises an eyebrow at her; she notices and drops her gaze, quickly hiding a hand under the table.

Weird.

He doesn't see her again until after school, when they're both walking home. Annabeth is kind of acting weird, the kind of weird where Percy can't exactly put his finger on what's happened but can sense that something's up. She's talking fairly normally but her face lacks emotion, like she's putting on a deliberate poker face. Percy doesn't question this. Annabeth gets like this sometimes when she's thinking about something, but the mood usually passes, and she always ends up talking to him about it, anyway.

He says a quick goodbye to her and walks up the stairs to his apartment. His mom asks if he got to school on time, to which he lies easily, "Of course, mom," grabbing a cookie from its usual jar and plopping on the sofa like the massive couch potato he is.

"Percy," his mom scolds. "Get off your butt and go do something useful."

"Don't wanna," he mumbles.

"What would Annabeth do?" His mom says, smiling a little. This has become almost a game with them, now. _What would Annabeth do?_ is one of Sally's favourite tactics to hopefully get Percy to do something useful. Because Annabeth is one of the most productive people in Percy's life, and Sally thinks that he could really benefit from, well, not wasting all his time.

"Annabeth would be on her bed right now, texting Piper," Percy grunts.

"She'd be getting out the SAT guides and you know it," his mom says.

"Ughhhhh, fine," Percy says, but he doesn't move; his mother snorts but doesn't prod further.

There's a knock at the door a while later, a sharp tap-tap-tap that's Annabeth's signature; he waits until she starts on her third time before finally opening the door, and she walks in like she's lived in Percy's apartment all her life.

She settles down, cross-legged, on the sofa; Percy jumps onto the couch as well and thrusts his feet into her lap the way they've always done for about a million years.

"Ughhh, I have practice tomorrow," he grumbles, hoping Annabeth will coo at him in sympathy, because Percy is actually a big, attention-seeking child, but she surprises him by shoving his feet off her lap. More taken aback than hurt, Percy just lifts an eyebrow at her, but she just shrugs and says, "Headache."

He rolls his eyes. "Thank you, that makes so much sense."

"Your feet smell," she grouses. "I can't breathe in your stink if I wanna recover—"

"You chose the wrong house." Percy lifts his feet into her lap again; she doesn't protest again, but her eyebrows knit together. Percy ignores her obvious irritation, figuring she must've come here for a reason, so he crosses his arms behind his head as a makeshift cushion, closes his eyes, and waits.

It's quiet for a while. Percy waits while Annabeth grapples with her decision to spill the beans or not. Finally she says, in a small voice, "Hey."

He opens one eye, then sits up: he knows Annabeth likes it best when people give her their undivided attention when she's talking. "Yeah?"

"I wanted to tell you something," she says, facing him head-on, a firm, steely look in her eyes. Her curls fall into her eyes. Percy smiles a little, because this is how he likes Annabeth best, with fire in her veins and determination in her eyes, but still enough softness in her demeanour that's meant just for him to see.

"Figured," he says.

She cocks her head cutely. "You did?"

"You've got that expression that means you're thinking something really important," he says, adding, just to rile her up, "your eyes get all cloudy — like, even more stormy than usual — and you purse your lips and there's this huge vein that just pops on your forehead—"

"There's no vein," she says at once, confidently, but she's pressing her forehead frantically. He laughs, and she throws a potato chip at him (which he evades easily), shaking her head.

"So?" he asks.

"So." She lets out a nervous little chuckle. "This is...kind of hard to say—"

"Okay," he says at once, "then don't tell me—"

She frowns. "I want to—"

"I'm just saying, if you need time—"

"I got my red string today," she snaps, and then it's quiet. Annabeth avoids his gaze and Percy stares at her, stunned.

His first, selfish thought, is _Why not me?_ Because Annabeth's the skeptic, Annabeth's the one who hadn't believed. Percy had wanted a soulmate more than Annabeth, Percy had checked his hand every day for signs of a red string. Why had Annabeth got hers first?

The thought is dispelled from his mind almost immediately. Everyone deserves a soulmate. Especially Annabeth, who has seen her father cut off his own red string. Still, though, his own words from before come back to him: _I'm gonna make it the year I get my soulmate. And you'll get yours, too._

Well, he thinks, almost bitterly, at least it came true for one of them.

"Today. Morning," Annabeth says in a rush, perhaps sensing his mood. "Before I got to Goode. I have no idea why the hell I got it, I mean, I don't want it, but, yeah, and—" And Percy feels a sudden surge of affection for her.

"Who does it link to?" Percy asks. Then he stops, surprised that that's the first question out of his mouth. He stares at her, mouth suddenly dry at the thought of Annabeth…with someone. With her soulmate. Annabeth coughs awkwardly, "Huh?"

Percy snaps himself out of it. "You have a soulmate, Annabeth." Annabeth glares at him. "Who does it link to?"

"Nobody," Annabeth responds, but she says it quickly, like she's trying to hide something. Percy rolls his eyes.

"Well, not nobody, obviously," Annabeth says uncertainly. Her voice quivers a little, and she blinks rapidly, and Percy's confused, because why is she still acting weird if she's getting everything off her chest?

"It connects to somebody, but I dunno who, because it just extends, like, really far away—" she continues, gesturing out the window — "into the distance. I asked Piper, and she said it's normal."

"Oh." She's lying. Percy's known Annabeth for nearly all his life, and he knows what she looks like when she lies. She doesn't meet his eyes, and she keeps brushing her hair behind her ears. Classic Annabeth. Why is she hiding her soulmate's identity? Does she think Percy won't approve? She should know by now that Percy's got her back anytime, anywhere…unless—

Unless her soulstring connects to Luke and her purple thread has turned red — Percy nearly gags at the thought. He wants to ask her if that's why she looks so scared, but something in him tells him to wait.

So he smiles instead. "Annabeth, this is amazing."

Annabeth shakes her head, looking stricken. "You should have gotten it. You wanted a red string so bad, you deserve to find your soulmate more than I do—"

Her hands are trembling and she still won't meet his eyes. Percy feels bad for ever having the bitter thoughts he'd had, because Annabeth evidently just needs a friend right now, and Percy's her bestest friend ever in the whole wide world: even their string says so.

He grabs her hands, struggling to find words that'll help her calm down. "No-wh-what the hell, Annabeth." He squeezes her fingers reassuringly, but then, all at once, he gets the feeling that something is…off. Something really small, something really obvious, but he can't quite figure out what it is. He continues anyway, "Everyone deserves to have a soulmate."

She stares hard at his hands. He waits for her to respond, but she never does. Percy tries to ignore the churning in his stomach. He wonders what's wrong. He wonders if it's him, or Annabeth, or both of them.

It's only later that night, long after Annabeth has left, that Percy realizes that he hadn't caught a glimpse of her string — _their_ string — the white-yellow one, all day long.

 **/**

The next two weeks or so pass by without incident, but the weird tension between Percy and Annabeth persists. Annabeth's acting almost deceptively normal in front of him, but Percy sees the smile slip off her face when she thinks he's not looking, catches her whispering about red strings changing color to Piper — their resident red string expert — and generally keeping her hands hidden, leaving Percy unable to confirm his theory.

It's pissing Percy off. It pisses Percy off to the point where he can't sleep at night, which might seen a tad dramatic, but Percy hates that she doesn't feel comfortable enough to tell him this. He has a sick feeling in his stomach that her red string sting leads to Luke, and his mind begins to conjure up all kinds of nightmarish scenarios of Annabeth talking to Luke every night on the sly, Luke showing up at her house and asking her to run away with him—

And oh gods Percy doesn't think he can handle watching Annabeth pine after Luke — someone who never deserved her — again. It was bad enough that she had a purple string to him — actual proof that she _did_ love the scumbag — tied to her finger. If she loves him again…ugh. Percy doesn't want to think about it.

But he does think about it. More often than he should, really.

The result is a very sleep-deprived, very cranky Percy.

It's on one such day when he's late for school that Percy meets Calypso.

Percy's getting yelled at by Callahan for being late again when a girl sticks her head into the office and says, "Oh. Oh, I'm so sorry. Someone said the cafeteria was down this way-"

Callahan sighs, dismisses Percy with the wave of the hand, and addresses the girl, "No, the cafeteria is in the opposite direction."

The girl's mouth forms a little o. She's cute, Percy notes offhandedly, as he stands up to leave. Soft brown hair in a braid, large cocoa eyes like the kind you see on anime characters. Wide and unblinking. She wears simple clothes, but they look good on her petite frame. She's really pretty, actually, in the refreshing, natural kind of way.

"I'm so sorry, sir," she says, turning to leave.

Percy takes a long step forward to catch up with her.

"Hey," he says. The girl starts, then looks around at him with those eyes. He clears his throat, suddenly nervous. "I could show you to the cafeteria, if you'd like."

"That'd be really helpful," she says gratefully, falling into step beside him. "I'm Calypso, by the way."

Pretty name, he thinks. "I'm Percy. You aren't from here?"

"It's only my fourth day in New York, and everything is so confusing." She sighs a little wistfully. "School most of all. It's all so…different from home."

Percy hums. "I can see how it'd be confusing for a non-native." To her questioning look, he explains, "I've lived here all my life. Me and my best friend Annabeth, we've been roaming the streets of New York since we were in preschool."

She lets out a little tinkling laugh. "I'm sure that's safe."

He grins back; something about her smile is infectious. "Very. Kidnappers quaked at the look in my eyes, so nobody tried anything."

"Oh, because you're so intimidating."

"Well, to tell you the truth, Annabeth did all the work while I held onto her hand and prayed for a painless death." The memory makes him smile. "I'll introduce you to her when we get to the cafeteria, you'll understand."

"Sounds like a great best friend." Calypso smiles. She's really pretty, and Percy is enchanted.

Too late, Percy realizes that lunch is nearly over by the time they enter the cafeteria, and everyone is leaving the table by the time Percy and Calypso reach it. He does introduce her to the ones sticking around, though: Piper, who appraises the both of them with a raised eyebrow, Leo, who looks a little starstruck, and Will, who gazes at him with something like fear.

"Hey, has Annabeth left already?" Percy asks Will. Will is still looking at him, gaze flickering down at his hands, with a mix of concern and sympathy.

"Nope," he says, "she bolted out of here a while ago. But, hey—" and his voice drops — "d'ya know if everything's okay with her? She hasn't, uh, said anything to you?"

Percy bristles at this, a little bit because _no_ , Annabeth hasn't said anything to him, but mostly because worrying about Annabeth is _his_ job. He's so used to being the only one to recognize when she's in a mood that it's throwing him off that Will has seen it, too. "No, I think everything's fine. She would've told me otherwise."

"Okay." Will pulls out his phone as he turns to leave, "I'll text her…"

Shoving down his unease, Percy takes a seat next to Calypso at the now-empty table, where Calypso is gobbling up her sandwich like she has something to prove.

Percy inhales his burger. "What class do you have next?"

She swallows a huge lump of bread. "History."

"Hey, me too." He stands up and brushes the crumbs off his pants. "My stepdad's friend actually teaches the class, and he knows me, but he won't excuse us for being late."

"Oh, of course." She stands up, too, and they both walk to class together, and Percy is actually enjoying this, noticing with pleasure the way her eyes light up when she looks at him.

Okay, so he might be a little attracted to this girl.

Positively giddy with this new revelation, the hope that his red string might be closer than ever, and dying to get Annabeth's stamp of approval, Percy is breathless until the day is done. He waits with Calypso at the front gate, but when Annabeth doesn't show, he asks her to wait and sprints back up into the school building.

He finds Annabeth near the lockers, but she isn't alone. She's with Will, and she's smiling more genuinely than she has in a long time.

The sight rubs him the wrong way.

As he watches, feeling more and more like he's intruding on a private moment, Annabeth pats Will on the shoulder. Will laughs in response, and says something in a warm, reassuring tone, something that makes Annabeth smile gratefully at him. Percy feels a prick of…something. It's just. Well. He hadn't known she and Will were so close.

He can't help interrupting. "Annabeth?" He walks forward like he'd only just arrived and hadn't been spying on them for the past few minutes.

Annabeth starts in surprise. A quick glance at the clock in the hallway confirms that she's late; she gazes his way apologetically. "Shit, sorry, were you waiting long?"

Percy looks quickly at her, then Will, who doesn't look perturbed in the slightest. "No, I just wanted to introduce you to someone." He glances at Will again. "What are you guys doing here?" The question comes out more pointed than he'd expected, but he finds himself okay with that.

"Nothing much. Just talking about the new assignment Clarke gave us," Annabeth replies smoothly. Well. That might be true: Annabeth and Will do have the same math class. Still, something is preventing Percy from relaxing fully.

"Yeah, had us seeing red." Will adds.

Okay, something is _definitely_ going on. The little laugh Annabeth lets out at the statement, Will using the word _red_ , oh my god, is he on the other end of Annabeth's string?

He glances back and forth between the two of them, disliking the idea more and more, even though he doesn't know why. He has to catch himself before he actually blurts out something rude, instead choosing to say, "Um. Cool. So, Annabeth—" and hoping that she'll catch the hint.

Luckily, she does. "Yeah, coming."

Finally, Percy thinks, but then she looks back at Will.

"See you later," she says, and her tone is so warm and thankful that it gives Percy pause. She's smiling at him in the kind of really soft way that Percy thought was reserved for _him,_ on sleepover nights when she thinks he's asleep, when she hums a little and brushes his hair back from his face and smiles. And she's smiling that smile. At _Will._

Percy suddenly wants to slam his fist into something.

"Yeah," Will responds, and he's smiling that stupid happy smile back at her, and Percy's going to puke. "And, about what I said, about, like, if you ever need—"

"Definitely," she says at once, sounding so unlike herself that Percy actually looks over at her to make sure she hasn't transformed into another person entirely. "You, too."

And she finally follows Percy back outside. Percy's quiet for the most part but boiling underneath the surface, and he bursts out, "What was that about? Didn't seem like just a math assignment." He tries to load as much suspicion into the question as possible.

"It was," she says. Lies, lies, Percy thinks.

"If you say so," he mutters.

"I say so," she says defensively. Another classic sign that she's lying. "And who'd you want to intro—" She stops when she sees Calypso, who is smiling up at them and waving. Percy feels his own face breaking into a grin.

"C'mon," he says, bounding towards her, Annabeth lagging a little behind him. Percy steps up beside Calypso when they reach her while Annabeth stops a step behind so that she faces the two of them. She looks Calypso up and down the way she always does with everyone. Sizing her up, she looks at Percy quickly with an expression he can't discern. That bothers him a little. He's almost always been able to tell what Annabeth is thinking.

Then Annabeth smiles. It's not the way she smiled at Will, but it's a smile nonetheless, and Percy can tell it's not too far from the real thing.

"Annabeth," he introduces, "this is Calypso. Calypso, this is Annabeth, my best friend that I told you about."

"Hi," Calypso chirps. "Percy literally wouldn't shut up about you all through History. It's great to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, too." They shake hands. "Are you new here?"

"Yeah," Calypso says, embarrassed. "Moved here four days ago, it's kind of crazy how...hectic it all is. I didn't know where any of the classes were, it was so embarrassing."

"She got lost," Percy explains. "She was looking for the cafeteria and ended up at Callahan's room, where he happened to be chewing me out for being late again, and so I ended up showing her around all day."

"Wow." Annabeth laughs a little, while Percy gazes at Calypso, who mouths a thank you.

"Maybe we should make you a map for school," he says.

"Oh my god, shut up," she laughs, "it's bad enough that I marked my house on Google Maps because I don't know where the heck it is."

Percy laughs at that, glancing at Annabeth, who hasn't even attempted to join their banter, out of the corner of his eye. She has her hands in her pockets. Again, Percy is struck by the feeling that something is wrong.

"I should go," Annabeth says suddenly, in a strangled kind of voice. "Got that math assignment to work on."

"The one with _Will?"_ Percy is ashamed of the sneer that sneaks into his voice. He tries to soften his next words. "I was gonna show Calypso the closest cafes. Sure you don't wanna come?"

"Sure," Annabeth says, in that same strange voice. She turns to Calypso like she can't stand to look at him anymore.

"Please don't be turned off by the sheer amount of food this idiot can shove into his mouth," she jokes. "It's disgusting to watch."

"It's no problem," Calypso laughs. "I'm starving. I feel like I could eat a whole food truck. Wheels and all."

"I'll take you up on that," Percy says at once, grinning.

"See you tomorrow, then," Annabeth says. She waves with her free hand, and Percy tries to send her a message with his eyes. Something along the lines of _Do you like Calypso?_ And even though Annabeth nods slightly, her lips are curved downward.

Despite himself, Percy smiles, knowing that if Annabeth says that Calypso is okay, then that's all the confirmation he needs. Figuring he'll talk to Annabeth later and sort out whatever is bothering her, he touches the other girl's elbow lightly as they walk away from Annabeth, and it's right when Percy turns back to look at his best friend that it hits him.

His eyes travel to his pinkie, where he sees Annabeth's string, glinting white and yellow. He traces its path down the pavement, but then it just…vanishes, like it's not even there, even though Percy can see his own half clear as day.

A horrible feeling in his gut, Percy squints at Annabeth's hand as she walks away, making out her pinkie, hoping to find their string in the same place it's always been, wrapped around her pinkie, a sign that their friendship would be there to stay.

He sees nothing.

 **/**

So Annabeth's string to him has changed color.

It shouldn't bother him. Friendships change. Relationships between people change. Annabeth's string might've turned green, which is kind of depressing, or blue, which is honestly quite touching, or brown, which…isn't that bad. It could also be red, but it can't be, because Annabeth would've told him so.

Besides, it's probably linked to _Will,_ anyway.

He finds it hard to even look at them these days, which is hard, because it seems like they're together all. The. Time. It's like, where's Annabeth? Oh, I saw her with Will. Where's Will? Oh, he was talking to Annabeth—

And so on. It used to be like that with Percy. They used to be two of a kind, the ones who were always together. And now she's found a new best friend, maybe even a soulmate, and Percy feels, well, left behind. Like he's lost her.

Maybe he's overreacting. It's not like he never sees Annabeth: they still walk home together, still go to each other's houses, still talk a decent amount, but Percy is so completely aware of the absent string, of how Annabeth isn't telling him _on purpose_ , that he's finding it hard to carry on a conversation without scowling. Plus, more often than not these days, Annabeth ends up talking about something funny Will said or something funny Will did, and Percy, well, doesn't really appreciate this.

"Is…everything okay between you two?" Grover asks him hesitantly one day.

"Why don't you ask _Will,_ " Percy grumps. "He talks to Annabeth more than I do, he probably knows about every little detail in her life—"

Grover looks like he's trying not to hide a smile. "Don't worry, she'll come back to you eventually."

Percy shoves a book into his locker with too much force. "I don't care. All I know is, I don't care what she does. She wants to keep things from me? Fine. _Fine._ I don't care."

"Sounds like you do," Grover hums, and Percy can't even argue, but he's going to try because he's angry, okay, but he's distracted by the arrival of Calypso and Juniper.

To his delight, Calypso fit into their group of friends well. She especially got along well with Juniper and Grover, fellow Biology maniacs, and she's generally well-liked by everyone. She's just one of those people, the easygoing kind whom people find hard to hate. She bakes — everyone oohs and aahs the first time she bought cookies for them — because, as she put it, she's "so glad to have found such nice friends so quickly!" Even Annabeth, who is generally distrusting of people, seems to like her. And she'd let him know that she approved.

So why does it feel so wrong that Percy likes her?

Because he does. He _does,_ okay? Calypso is really nice and sweet and funny, and they get along so well. They've been spending a lot more time with each other recently, given how busy Annabeth — his go-to hangout buddy — has been with Will, and Percy always leaves with a smile on his face and a spring in his step. Percy isn't stupid. He'd noticed from day one how pretty Cal was, and sometimes does he want to kiss her? Well, yeah.

But there's also something holding him back. And it's annoying because he doesn't know what it is. He likes Calypso, he's attracted to her, but sometimes when Percy thinks about what it would be like to be with her, like on a, _not_ superficial level, he just…doesn't want to think about it anymore. Then he has to hit himself, remind himself that Cal is basically perfect, and that they'd be good together.

It's been around three months since they first met, and Percy's struggling with a lot of feelings. Annabeth feels more distant than ever, and he's starting to get the feeling that Calypso likes him, too.

"Oh, she likes you," Piper says, amused, when Percy voices his concerns to her. "She kinda told Juniper, who told Grover, who told Leo, who told me."

Percy feels a little thrill run through him. "Really?"

"Really," Piper laughs. Then she stops and gazes at him earnestly. "But Perce, what about Annabeth?"

He feels his mood turn sour. "What about her?"

"I mean…you and her—"

"She's not even talking to me anymore," Percy says bitterly. "I don't need her permission to ask Cal out."

"I wasn't talking about her permission."

Percy stares at her blankly. "I don't get it."

She waves a hand. "Never mind. So, when are you gonna do it?"

"Dunno." Percy crosses his arms and leans back in his chair. "But…I dunno. Soon. Maybe."

Piper raises an eyebrow, amused. "But you're worried about how Annabeth's going to react."

Percy wants to curse. Piper isn't smart in the way Annabeth is smart, or even in the way Leo is smart, but she's people-smart, and she's got an uncanny knack for guessing what people are thinking. It's fun to watch when she's grilling other people, sure, but definitely not as pleasant when you're on the receiving end.

"I don't care," he says again.

Piper sips from a juice box. "Sure you don't."

Percy throws his arms up in irritation. "Why is everyone saying I care when I so clearly don't?"

Piper smiles a little. "Well, maybe that's something for you to think about."

Percy grumbles about it under his breath the entire day. Everyone tries to get him to snap out of it, but Percy remains in a foul mood until the end of the day, when Calypso hesitantly turns down his offer to get something to eat.

"You seem…mad," she says.

"I'm not," Percy snaps.

"Is it about Annabeth?"

Percy looks up in surprise. Calypso shrugs a little, looking at her feet. "I dunno…I mean, I know I haven't even been here that long, but I often hear your friends talking about how you and her aren't talking as much lately."

"Those gossips." Percy huffs out a laugh against his will. "Nah, it's not Annabeth. Just…I have a headache. And I'm having a bad day because of it, I guess."

"Oh," she says thoughtfully, "anything I can do to help?"

Percy smiles. "No, but thank you for caring."

"Of course I care," Calypso replies easily, smiling. "You've done so much for me since I got here, and so I'd like to try and return the favour whenever I can. Oh!" She begins to rummage in her bag for something. "I have something that might help."

The thing she's looking for turns out to be a book, which is kind of disappointing, but she picks out a pressed flower that's tinted a dull purple and smells heavenly.

"It's lavender," she explains. "It's really good for headaches, and stuff…" Her voice trails off — "and I had no idea this would be such a shit idea…"

She's babbling nervously, trying to apologize and offer some more remedies all at once, and Percy's just so touched that someone _cares_ that he can't bring himself to speak. And something about the atmosphere — the dim sunlight hanging in the air around them, the smell of the lavender, and the blush blooming across her cheeks — makes Percy think, y'know what? Fuck it. He's done thinking about what other people think, about Annabeth's silent judgement. And Calypso is here, in front of him, smiling like she's a little puzzled, but still very prettily.

He steps forward, cups her cheek with his palm, and kisses her.

 **/**

Percy finds his mood improving over time.

He likes being with Calypso. For real. She's a calming presence in his life, always has a hand on his back, steadying him. He misses the feeling of having someone there, because, well, Annabeth's still being weird, and she still hasn't told him anything about their disappeared string.

It's like they're in this…suspended state of weirdness, where they both know something's wrong but neither are willing to bring it up. Percy's beginning to have an inkling that she doesn't like Cal, which doesn't make sense, but she's been acting so _weird_ lately.

There had been the time Percy had mentioned that he'd invited Cal to his apartment one day, something he'd failed to tell Annabeth about until later. When she found out, though, she just smiled tightly and said, "Calypso...she came over?"

"Sorry," he'd said, "I assumed I'd told you." Okay, maybe this part was a lie. He hadn't kept it from her on purpose, but he's well-aware, now, that they aren't talking as much as before. He hadn't assumed he'd told her because he hasn't hasn't had the chance to tell her anything in what feels like a long, long time.

She looks away. "Well, you didn't."

"Sorry." Well, this is rich. He's apologizing for not telling her something as trivial as this, and meanwhile he's just supposed to take the crap she dishes out?

It's not fair. It's _not_ _fair._

"It's fine." She lets out a small laugh. "I'm not pissed or anything. It's just..." She changes the subject at once. "So, Sally and Calypso got on well?"

"Yeah." Percy indulges her. "Talked my ear off about baking and stuff."

"That's nice." There's something odd about her voice. "Cal is really nice."

She's lying. Again. Seems like that's a trend with them these days.

Percy's honestly done, because, in his opinion, Annabeth has no right to get mad at him about this. She hadn't asked. She'd even cancelled on Movie Night, which is…unheard of. They haven't missed a movie night in years — _years_ — and she's blowing him off to work on her stupid math assignment with Will?

He should really stop being bitter about someone who doesn't give a shit.

She shows up the next day, though, carrying a peace offering in the form of a bag of chips. Percy's supposed to be cleaning his room when she walks in, but she offers him the chips and a little smile.

"Annabeth?" he asks.

"Wuddup." She tosses the chips onto his lap, and he's ashamed to say he rips it open in about a second. Then she hesitates. "Sorry I missed movie night."

"It's fine." Percy tries to keep his voice level, but one glance at Annabeth indicates she's caught on. Well, fine then, he isn't going to hold back. "I guess you and _Will_ are hard at work."

"Sorry," she says quietly. "It's worth a lot of our final grade. I wanna get this right."

He shrugs, already deflating, already feeling a little guilty. He knows about Annabeth's drive, her almost fervent need to do well. He's being selfish, maybe, just a little bit.

"C'mon." She's smiling, he can hear it in her voice. She pokes his knee. "Would I ever miss movie night if it wasn't really important? I haven't missed one in seven years."

He glances her way, trying not to smile. "I haven't missed one in ten."

"I had a broken leg, Percy," she says.

"And I brought over The Lion King and we watched it in bed." He can't help the smile as he remembers the day. He'd curled up on her bed, doodling on her cast and stealing her popcorn. "That was fun."

He allows himself to smile at her. "I know you wouldn't miss it," he says. "It just...wasn't the same without you." Which is true. It had been nice with Calypso, but he and Annabeth know all the lines to Lord of the Rings, and they argue with each other trying to say it first, and they have food fights and laugh into their drinks. It really hadn't been the same.

"And it feels like we haven't been talking as much," he blurts out. "What with you and Will, and me and Cal—"

"Me and Will aren't...a thing," she says at once. "We aren't...anything. We just—"

"Oh." Percy feels his entire body relaxing at this. The air feels lighter, and wow, was it really that sunny outside before? "Yeah, I mean, a lot of people started asking me about you guys, but I was like, Annabeth would've told me for sure." She flinches slightly at this, but he ploughs on— "And then I thought about your red string, and I dunno, I kept seeing you guys together, so I thought—"

"I'd tell you," she says, after the smallest second of hesitation. Percy notices, and he can tell she's picked up on his suspicion. He waits for her to say it. To just let it out. But what she does say is, "I swear, I'm fine, don't worry about it." She takes a shallow breath, clearly thinking hard. "So, where's Calypso?"

Well, fine. Percy isn't going to prod. "Doing some plant-a-tree thing with Grover and Juniper." He rolls his eyes, but it's not in annoyance. "She's already made me plant some weird flower-thing in my windowsill, look—"

He points it out to her, a small silvery plant on his window. She'd got it for him the other day, calling it a gift and saying it'd help him sleep better. Percy wanted to kiss her right there: he hadn't even told her about his shitty sleeping schedule; she must've figured it out from the bags under his eyes.

"It's pretty," Annabeth murmurs.

"I'm not a plant person," Percy admits with a shrug.

She smiles a little, but it's sad. "I know."

"Like, I literally kill every plant I touch."

"Shut up, it's sweet of her to think of you." Annabeth elbows him, almost playful, but her voice turns cautious as she says, "But hey, you were right. You said you'd get your red string this year, and you did."

He stops at that.

Well, this is his moment. He can choose to be the bigger person and tell his best friend — albeit his _lying_ best friend — the truth, or he can choose to be petty and lie through his teeth. He touches the leaves of the plant. Hears his mom's voice in his head. _What would Annabeth do?_

These days? He's not so sure.

Friends matter _so_ much to Percy. They're all he has, and Annabeth knows this better than anyone. To be frank, she isn't being much of a friend to him right now, and, well, maybe he should take the hint.

"I did," he says, after a pause.

Annabeth looks like he's slapped her across the face.

"I'm really happy for you," she manages after a while. Percy shoves down his overwhelming guilt, busies himself with the plant. Calypso had called it Moonlace. His hand falls back onto the pillow, inches from hers; she draws both her hands to her chest immediately, like she's been burned, hugging them around her chest. He sees her fingers trembling.

Annabeth wants to lie about her red string?

Well, two can play at that game.

 **/**

 **From: Percy [10:59 PM]**

grover i'm a bad person

 **From: Grover [10:59 PM]**

boi what

 **From: Grover [10:59 PM]**

WHAT DID YOU DO

 **From: Grover [10:59 PM]**

PERCY

 **From: Percy [10:59 PM]**

i'll tell you tomorrow ;)

 **From: Grover [11:00 PM]**

PERCY

 **From: Grover [11:00 PM]**

PERCY GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE RIGHT NOW

 **From: Percy [11:02 PM]**

okay BUT YOU HAVE TO PROMISE TO NOT GET MAD

 **From: Grover [11:04 PM]**

Of course I won't

This just in: apparently all of Percy's friends are liars, because Grover _does_ get mad. Grover mutters stupid about "Stupid Seaweed Brain," under his breath the entire day and glares in his general direction all through lunch.

"I knew I shouldn't have told you," Percy grumbles.

"Damn good thing you did," Grover snaps. "Someone needs to tell you to pull your head out of your ass."

"I don't need to pull my head out of my ass, you need to pull my head out of your ass," Percy babbles. "Wait, no, that's not right—" Next to him, Jason guffaws loudly.

He's lucky everyone's occupied, especially Piper, who'd love to hear this piece of gossip. Grover's being obvious enough, though, so Percy's sure that everyone will find out sooner or later.

"Idiot," Grover says.

Percy just about breaks his fork. "Yes, I know, you've been saying so for the past three hours, thank you—"

"Well you are one," Grover bursts out, "an idiot, that is."

Percy scowls at his plate. Grover glares at him some more, so Percy pointedly avoids his gaze, looking around at the table for a distraction.

He finds it in the form of Annabeth and Will. They're staring at her phone, speaking in kind of low voices. Not low enough to make the conversation totally private, but low enough so that nobody else can hear. Percy, who's practically the furthest away from the pair, shamelessly strains his ears to catch a word or two: all he gets is Will saying something about Annabeth being brave and clapping thrice, loudly, in her face.

Percy frowns.

Annabeth notices, and she quickly bats Will's hands away. Piper has seen the exchange, too, and she quirks an eyebrow, first at Annabeth, then at Percy.

Luckily, the bell rings before she can say anything. Annabeth stands up at once, and Piper moves towards her, obviously to ask her about her and Will. Percy looks away, heading to his next class, extremely aware of Will right behind him, looking nervous. Good.

Will doesn't try to make much conversation during class, thank god, but once they're all standing up to leave, he pats him gingerly on the shoulder.

"What?" Percy asks, barely looking up. He's being rude, he knows. He's jumping to an awful lot of conclusions about Annabeth and Will, and Will probably doesn't deserve this, but Percy can't help it all the same, especially when he gets a little stab of pleasure at Will's stricken expression.

"I just…wanted you to know that-that me and Annabeth…we aren't a thing," Will says hesitantly.

"What makes you think I care?" Percy says shortly.

"Oh." Will draws back slightly. "Oh. Uh—"

He walks outside, only to be ambushed by a disapproving Piper. Percy groans. "What now?"

"You lied about your red string to Annabeth?" She says, frowning. Well shit, Percy thinks ruefully, that hadn't lasted long at all.

"Not cool," Piper says, crossing her arms.

"I have my reasons," Percy says, trying to push past her. She keeps up easily.

"Why would you say that?"

"To give her a taste of her own medicine, for one."

"What do you mean?"

"It's…complicated."

"Is this about her red string? Because she told me it's not Will—"

"It's not that." It's not just that. "It's...she hasn't been telling me the truth about some stuff for a while, but she's still acting like I owe her everything. Fuck that." Percy glares at the wall.

"Lying isn't the answer, Perce," she says in a soft voice.

"I know," he says, "and I feel bad about it, but I did it anyway." He hefts his bag more securely over his shoulder. "Well, wish me luck."

"For what?"

He shrugs. "For the fight that's about to come."

 **/**

Percy's known Annabeth for over ten years, and he's seen her get angry, _really_ angry, about three times in total.

The first time was when they were around ten, and her little brothers, Bobby and Matthew, ripped a couple of pages of her favourite architecture book. Great Greek Architects of the Ages, it was called, and it was the only thing her mom had left behind before she'd run out on Annabeth and her father. Annabeth had screamed at the two kids, who had shrunk back in fear, but then she'd burst into hot, boiling tears that wouldn't stop even when Percy tried to pacify her.

The second time was in the sixth grade, and this horrible bully — Nancy Bobofit — was in one of her moods, tripping a poor kid with crutches, and throwing her peanut butter and jelly sandwich in Percy's hair, for no other reason than "I'm bored, Prissy."

Percy, who was on a warning from the principal, was trying very hard to hold his tongue. When Nancy threw another bit of her sandwich at him, it had taken every ounce of strength in him to not push her into the drinking fountain, but Annabeth, apparently at her wits' end and affected by none of the constraints holding Percy back, stood up, walked calmly up to Nancy — who was around twice her size — and had thrown what remains, to this day, the most glorious punch Percy has ever seen.

The third time — well. That would be right now, because Annabeth looks _furious._

He hears her stomping through the house, then stepping inside Percy's room and slamming the door shut behind her. She turns on him, grey eyes thunderous. "You lied to me."

Percy fakes a calm front. "Hey, Annabeth," he says coolly, "nice of you to take the time to visit."

She blinks, a little of the rage replaced by confusion. "What?"

"No, I mean," he hisses, "well, you never seem to have time for me anymore. You barely stop by, you don't talk to me in school—" Only now that he says it does he realized how betrayed he feels by the way Annabeth's been cutting him out, little by little. It hurts, knowing his best friend is lying to him, trying to get rid of him.

"What." She says, eyes wide, "I keep trying, it's not my fault if you're always in the middle of some _date_ —"

Oh, does she even know what she's saying?

"Don't make me the bad guy," he snaps back at once. "You practically run in the other direction when you see me, you're constantly hanging out with _Will_ _,_ talking about, I dunno, all your _secrets_ —"

"I don't keep secrets from you," she hurtles back at him; unable to stand it anymore, Percy jumps to his feet.

" _Liar_ ," he says, and oh, it feels good to say it aloud, say it with all the hurt and anger and betrayal he's been feeling ever since he found out that the color of her string had changed, or, if he's honest, maybe since even before that. "You haven't been yourself since Calypso," he accuses, "and you're not exactly being nice to her, either, you don't like her for some reason and you won't tell me why—"

He sees her panic, sees her grasping around in her mind for an argument, something, anything, to prove him wrong. "That's not true, I—"

"Do you know how many times I had to force myself to smile at Luke," he grits out, thinking of all the times he had to physically force himself to keep his clenched fists in his pocket to keep himself from punching the older boy in the nose, "even though he broke your heart every day that you convinced yourself that you were in love with him—"

"I didn't convince myself to believe anything," she says, but it's a flimsy statement and she knows it. Her gaze flits down, for a split second, at the purple string they both know is still ties to her, reminding them that Luke had treated her like shit, but she'd loved him anyway. And here's Percy, who's practically family, and Annabeth's treating him like shit for a reason she won't even divulge. Well, fuck that. Percy's tired of being everyone's punching bag.

She shakes her head a little as if snapping herself out of it. "Stop changing the subject." Her voice grows stronger as she speaks. "You lied to me, Percy. You said you got your red string, said it was connected to Calypso—"

Well, he can't argue against that, but he forces himself to look at the bigger picture here. "Okay, I lied. So what?" He sneers. "We aren't all as lucky as you, Annabeth."

"Don't." It shocks him how shaken she sounds by this. She points a finger at him. "Don't _even,_ Percy."

"Don't even what?" he asks, a little softer, letting her know that he's still here for her, still willing to listen, but she says nothing. Percy snorts in derision, throwing his arms up in the air. "See what I mean?" he says. "More secrets, more things you can't tell me for some flimsy reason—"

"Percy," she says, taking a long, shaking breath, "I'm telling you, this is one thing I can't tell you. Shouldn't my word be enough?"

"It is enough," Percy bites out in frustration, because why doesn't she understand? "Or at least it would be enough if you still acted, well, yourself. I barely see you these days, Annabeth. And don't say that it's because of Cal, because I've been calling you and calling you, and you don't even pick up, or even text me back—"

"I didn't want to interrupt anything—"

"Don't give me that bullshit." He glares at her. "We've been friends for more than a decade. You know that I wouldn't say a fucking word if you needed me. For _anything."_

"You stop changing the subject," she growls back, eyes burning with a scary silver flame. "You know me, I told you this even when I was going through...whatever the hell that was with Luke, right from the beginning, I said that my issues are my own, this is something I won't tell you—"

"Something you _won't_ tell me." He crosses his arms, feeling rather numb at the knowledge that it's been her choice, all along, to not tell him. "So it's not that you can't. It's that you don't want to."

She closes her eyes, face twisted as though she's in terrible pain. It's silent. Then—

"Yeah," she says quietly. "It's true that I can't tell you, but I don't want to, either."

Percy tries very hard to ignore the stab of hurt he feels in the gut, like she'd punched him there the same way she'd hit Nancy Bobofit all those years ago. "But you'll tell Will," he says bitterly.

She sighs. "He…he understands."

"And I don't?" Percy can't believe what he's hearing. He's stuck by Annabeth through thick and thin, when her mom left, when her dad remarried— "I've known you for more than half my life, but I'm not good enough to know this?"

"It's not about you!" she yells out in frustration, "god, Percy! It's not about you! It's me!"

"Wow." He snorts, disgusted. "Pulling an 'It's not you, it's me,' that's great."

"You know what I mean." Her eyes flutter shut again. Percy waits, his entire body tingling, as he watches her, unsure of what to feel, what to say. His entire head is beginning to hurt, and he feels a tug on his finger, maybe the remnants of their bond, trying to get them to _stop._

"Look," she says evenly, "I need to figure this out on my own, and Will is helping, and I'm sorry I haven't been able to talk to you about it, but you've got to admit that half of this is your fault, too." She inhales sharply, looking him in the eye. "Why did you lie about your red string?"

He stares back as coldly as he can. "Why does it even matter?"

"Because—" She pauses. Chews her lip the way she does when she's at an impasse. God, right now Percy hates how he knows every little thing about her. "Look, you always said you wanted to be with your real soulmate, and if it isn't Calypso, then you should—"

His head snaps up in shock. "What? Break up with her? Just because she's not on the other end of my red string? Which I haven't even gotten yet? I really like her, Annabeth, and what's to say my string that connects to her won't turn red one day?"

Even as he says it, though, it feels wrong. Having a red string to Calypso feels…wrong, even though it shouldn't, even though Percy does like her a lot.

"It's just—" Annabeth seems to be wrestling with herself. "You deserve to be with your soulmate, Percy, nobody less."

Did those words just come from Annabeth, the nonbeliever? "You don't even believe in the red string. Why are you saying all this now?"

She looks at the floor, his shoes, anywhere but him. "I— don't know. Maybe I've begun to believe a little."

It hits him like a boulder rolling down a hill. Percy feels deadened as he says, "You've found your soulmate. You know who it is."

"I haven't."

"You have." He stares at her in the eye as if he can see the person's face reflected in her irises like a mirror. "Who is it? Is it Will?"

"No," she denies at once. "That's-that's fucking ridiculous—"

"Then who?"

"I don't know who it is," she replies, but it's in a tone that makes Percy call her bluff.

"Lying again." He sits back down on his bed, suddenly tired of it all, tired of fighting. "Annabeth, c'mon. I won't judge. Who is it?"

She clenches her fists and faces him again. "What color is your string to Calypso?"

Percy wants to sob. He wants this to stop. "Don't do this again. Why do you hate her so much?"

"I don't hate her," Annabeth says heatedly. "I just think that if she isn't your soulmate, she isn't right for you—"

"You don't get to decide for me!" He finds himself rising, nearly yelling. "You don't get to tell me she's wrong for me when she makes me so happy, because I am happy, okay?" He sounds like he's trying to convince himself. Annabeth can probably see through him like he's glass. "She's nice and funny and kind and-and I like her so much. Why can't you please, please, just this once, be on my side?"

"I am on your side," she says shakily, "I _am_."

"Then why won't you talk to me?" he insists, desperate.

"I told you—"

"You think I haven't noticed that your string to me has changed color?"

There it is. Percy hadn't meant to bring it up the way he had, or say the words in a tone so harsh, but it has the desired effect: Annabeth's next few words are lost and she takes a step back, reeling as though he'd kicked her in the chest.

"Because I did notice, even though you tried to hide it, even though you never brought it up," he ploughs on, apparently unable to stop now that he's begun. "I was waiting for you to tell me, but you never did. And I'm sure that that's the reason you've been acting so weird around me, and avoiding me, and not telling me anything—"

"I—" Her voice is strangled.

"Honestly," he snaps, suddenly furious at her silence, at the guilt in her expression, "at this point, I don't care: if the string says we shouldn't be friends anymore, maybe we shouldn't."

Okay, well, fuck.

He's gone too far. He knows he's crossed the line the second the words are out, the second he catches sight of Annabeth's face. She looks _alone_ , as alone as the day when her mom had left and her dad had cut his red string away. Percy feels like an A-grade asshole. There's still time to repair this, it's not they haven't fought before, and he's opening his mouth to say _I'm sorry_ when—

"Fine by me," Annabeth says.

He looks at her. Her features have rearranged into a deceptively calm expression, but Percy can see the turmoil of hurt and anger in her eyes. He's the one who hurt her like that, but—

Then he realizes. Annabeth's been trying all these months to push him away, and Percy has, just now, possibly given her exactly what she wanted.

The thought makes him want to break down.

Annabeth is still staring at him with the same steely resolve, the kind she shows when she's trying to act strong.

How, though, can she agree to throw away ten years of friendship and believe that it is the right decision? How can she do it so calmly when it's tearing Percy apart from the inside?

He can't bring himself to speak, and, after a while, Annabeth murmurs a goodbye — one that sounds horribly final — and flees.

It takes a while for Percy to snap out of his daze, but when he does he realizes he's crying. It hurts. It hurts so bad, and half of it is his fault and that makes it worse.

The cherry on the cake is that Annabeth probably doesn't even give a shit, and despite all the things they'd hurtled at each other in their fury, Percy really, really, wishes she did.

 **/**

How do you ignore someone you've known your whole life?

Percy discovers that it's hard. Especially with just about all of his friends bugging him constantly, asking him why they fought and to get "back together," which is just ridiculous, considering they were never together — at least, not in _that_ way — in the first place.

He suspects, though, that they're annoying him more than Annabeth: for one, Annabeth is scary when she's mad, and she's also stubborn as a bull. In matters of pride, Annabeth will never be the first to back down, something she used to jokingly call her 'fatal flaw.' So, well, it makes sense they're hounding him so much for information: it's because they know that Annabeth won't be telling anyone.

So Percy follows her lead and doesn't say anything, only saying it'll work itself out in time, until they give up on asking. Percy manages to sound convincing enough to even fool himself. Maybe that's the hopeless, loyal part of him that believes he and Annabeth will patch things up. Truthfully, though, he's shaken to the core. They've fought before, but it's never been anything like this. And deep down, Percy knows he's at fault.

What also sucks is that now that she's barely a part of his life, thoughts of Annabeth fill his head to the brim. He finds himself looking for her in the hallways, gazing at her out of the corner of his eye during lunch. She's shut herself off the way she usually does when she's trying to get over someone — he's seen it before, first with her mother, then with Luke — and she looks pale and lost in a way that he understands. His first, almost overpowering instinct is to put an arm around her and talk to her until she's gotten it all off her chest, but, well, she's proven she doesn't want to talk to him anymore.

Besides, whenever he sees her, she's always with Will, heads together in a frantically-whispered conversation. Annabeth looks tired; Will looks exasperated. Percy understands.

Calypso remains the calm, by his side, navigating topics of conversation by deliberately not asking about the fight, perhaps sensing how messed up he really feels. She makes it a point to stare at him pointedly whenever Annabeth passes by, mouthing _go talk to her!_ and asking him regularly to patch things up. He's grateful, in a sense, that she's there and she understands, but he also feels guilt, because he knows he's been neglecting her. She doesn't deserve that.

But it's like…well, something's changed, and Percy's trying so hard not to admit it, but his mind feels all wrong and fucked up and he can't concentrate on anything anymore, least of all Calypso. Truthfully, he's just as frustrated inside as Annabeth isn't on the outside, he's just better at hiding it.

Annabeth's always hidden her emotions fairly well, but that just means she's bottling it up. Percy waits for the inevitable explosion, and it comes during lunch one day when Calypso asks her something and she snaps back rudely. She apologizes immediately, and Calypso brushes it off easily, but Percy glares openly and tries to ignore the knowing looks everyone else shares. Great.

After lunch, he pulls Cal aside. "Hey."

"Don't say anything," she warns immediately. "Don't go blaming Annabeth for this, she looks so stressed these days, the poor girl. I just caught her at the wrong moment."

Percy feels mutinous, because Annabeth's looked close to snapping at _anyone_ these days. "Are you okay?"

"I'm okay," she reassures him, squeezing his hand. "I'll see you after school, okay?"

"Tacos?"

"Duh." She pecks him quickly on the cheek and runs off to class.

Percy walks to his own class, where he chooses a seat way, way at the back, something he usually doesn't do, but he's not in the mood to listen to the teacher. Leo, who is also in the same class, grins in greeting and shows him his new invention — a something that's built out of various metal scraps. Percy gives him the thumbs-up and then busies himself with his phone, first playing a game and then scrolling up his chats.

He finds himself in Annabeth's without meaning to, _again_ , feeling rather annoyed at himself as he scrolls higher and higher, to better times. The texts they exchanged, he realizes with a jolt, are casual, just bordering on the edge of flirty. He closes it at once, cheeks heated and his mind a mess. Dear god, what is wrong with him?

After school, he waits for Calypso, hoping spending some time with her will help clear things out, but when she emerges from the building talking to Annabeth, of all people, Percy's heart suddenly feels more confused than ever. He frowns as he gazes between them: he wouldn't be lying if he said he wasn't curious about what they might be talking about. Then, from somewhere behind them, Will emerges — of course he does, he seems to be Annabeth's new protector — and Percy grunts under his breath.

He keeps an eye on the two girls. Calypso is talking very rapidly, wringing her hands together; Annabeth touches her shoulder comfortingly. They must be talking about her outburst at lunch, but then Calypso glances quickly at Percy before plunging back into rapid speech. Annabeth looks at him, then, too, her face a little sad. She faces down, lips barely moving as she replies.

Shockingly, Calypso gives Annabeth a quick hug. Annabeth's eyes look wide, but she accepts it; next to them, Will even drops his act of searching through his bag to stare at them.

Calypso waves at Annabeth, who smiles back weakly, then bounds down the stairs, grinning at Percy. Percy smiles, holds out his hand, and she takes it when she's close enough.

"What was that all about?" He asks her.

"Nothing much," Calypso replies as they walk away. "Just…"

He glances at her. "You asked her about me, didn't you."

"I couldn't help it," she whines, attempting to cut a sorry figure even though there's a smile threatening to pull at her lips. "You seem so miserable sometimes and I thought, well, if you and her patched things up it would help…"

He squeezes her hand. "I appreciate the effort as long as you mentioned I won't be the one apologizing first—"

She scoffs. "Percy, I'm sure some of it was your fault."

"Was not!"

"Was too." She sticks her tongue out. "You're taking this much worse than Annabeth did, by the way."

"What?" He stares at her, unable to imagine Annabeth caving in to anyone, least of all Calypso, who he's still certain she doesn't like.

"She seemed really sad," Calypso murmurs. "And she seemed to really, really want to be your friend again."

Percy has to force the lump down his throat. "She's lying, she doesn't really care, I'm sure she's fine— after all, she hasn't even tried talking to be or even looking in my direction…she doesn't care, Cal. And it doesn't matter anymore, because neither do I."

"She doesn't care?" Cal raises an eyebrow. "Why'd she tell me to take care of you in her stead, then?"

The words send a thrill through Percy's spine. The very thought that Annabeth still cares about him makes him want to laugh, or cry, or maybe both. It takes him a while to push down the grin, to convince himself the elation he's feeling isn't real.

But when he looks at Calypso, there is a strange expression on her face.

"But I thought it didn't matter to you?" she says, a touch of sarcastic teasing in her voice.

"It doesn't," Percy responds carefully.

He's lying. They both know it.

 **/**

Things change after that.

For one, Piper, of all people, begins to treat Percy like he's a piece of gum attached to the sole of her shoe. She glares at him openly, sniffs haughtily and loudly when he tries to talk to her, and gives Annabeth long hugs whenever Percy's in the vicinity, nose upturned in contempt at him. Percy doesn't get it, and apparently she's refusing to tell Jason anything, either. But, well…judging by the way she's suddenly stuck to Annabeth's side, Percy guesses that Piper's taking sides in the fight after all, and she's chosen Annabeth's.

Nice.

There's also…well. Percy and Calypso's relationship has changed. It's not like they're fighting, per se, it's just that there's a little distance between them now, and there has been ever since the day Annabeth and Calypso talked. There's some part of Percy that wishes Calypso hadn't told him the details of what Annabeth said, but her words made him happier than he's letting on. It's a very conflicting feeling.

He likes Calypso, still. That part hasn't changed. But, well, he doesn't feel for her as strongly as he does for, uh, _other people,_ and it makes him feel oh, so guilty.

He's being unfair. He's being a shit boyfriend and he knows it, and it's just that oh _god_ he wants to be with Calypso and maybe in another universe she'd be his soulmate, but she's just…not. And Percy doubts she will be. And those are the facts.

But he still does like her, still enjoys spending time with her, and with Piper's sudden defection to the Annabeth's Side, Percy feels kind of alone, watching bemusedly as Piper snorts in derision as he and Calypso pass by. She murmurs something about "flaunting their relationship" and Percy is too tired to even wonder why.

Piper keeps shooting him ugly looks as they sit down. Next to her are Annabeth and Will: Annabeth looks mortified, but Will looks as though he's enjoying himself thoroughly. He and Piper keep glancing their way, and Percy feels uncomfortable, shifting his gaze away from the trio with some difficulty. He can still hear them whispering, though, and through the corner of his eye, he sees Piper give Annabeth what seems to be an overly dramatized hug. Calypso gazes at them curiously as they whisper, and suddenly Piper bursts out, "If you have the balls!"

At least now Percy has an excuse to stare at them, so he does, rather shamelessly. Calypso and Annabeth make eye contact; Calypso smiles, and Annabeth waves back a little hesitantly. Will grins too, but Piper makes a big show of turning away as though disgusted. Percy is so done with her.

Calypso turns back to him, looking a little hurt. "Huh."

"Don't mind her, I don't even know what's going on in her brain," Percy mumbles tiredly, placing his head in his hands. "I stopped questioning Piper's decisions a while ago."

"Aww, you sound so tired," Cal coos, carding a hand through his hair, which makes him feel a little better but also a whole lot worse.

Without even thinking about it, Percy rubs his yellow string to Annabeth, wrapped securely around his pinkie, even though the color vanishes halfway across the classroom as if travels to Annabeth. Again, for the millionth time, he wonders what color Annabeth's string to him is.

It couldn't be red. Could it?

 _Could it?_

It could, he admits to himself, gazing quickly at Calypso — who is texting Juniper a bunch of flower emojis — as if making sure she can't read his mind. Because, well, these are thoughts that Percy's shoved down so deep inside himself he barely remembers they exist.

So.

Annabeth's string could be red.

But it also can't be. Because if either one of their halves of their string turned red…it would have been Percy's.

Soulmates don't always mean romance. Soulmates mean…a bond so deep it can't be broken. It doesn't always have to be love. It can be what Annabeth and Percy have. Well. _Used_ to have, at least. And what they had had — whatever it was — it was great. A friendship so deep they could speak just by exchanging a glance, a friendship so deep they could probably win a war together, just the two of them against the world. They used to roleplay at Greek gods when they were little, and they used to stand back-to-back in the middle of the playground, holding up sticks like a sword and dagger, fighting any imaginary monsters that dared come their way.

He misses it. He misses them.

He misses her.

And, okay, _fine._ Percy isn't stupid. He knows that everyone, including their parents, had been expecting them to get together at some point or another — their friends even have a betting pool, for god's sakes. To be honest, Percy had been expecting it, too. But Annabeth hadn't shown a single sign of liking him in any other way than as her best friend, and so Percy had forced himself to banish the thoughts from his mind.

But he can't forget those forbidden thoughts, those fleeting feelings, not really, because they had really been soulmates, in a sense. Annabeth is the only person who's ever _gotten_ Percy; she understands him in a way that nobody else does. Maybe that comes from knowing him for so long, but he's sure that part of it is because they go so well together.

And he knows Annabeth, too. And he knows that if her string to him had been red, she would've told him. Which is why her string _must_ be another color.

He misses her. He misses her so much it hurts, and it sucks so much because he can't talk to anyone about it. Because, he thinks ruefully, chewing on his lower lip, Annabeth was usually the one he went to to talk about stuff. He'd vent and she'd listen and if Percy wanted to cry, she'd turn on some really loud music while Percy yelled and sobbed into her shoulder.

His heart pangs painfully.

He looks up just as Annabeth does, and their eyes meet for what feels like the first time in weeks. Annabeth turns away at once, so fast it might've hurt her neck, while Will and Piper look amused.

Percy looks at Calypso, who hasn't missed the exchange. She raises an inquisitive eyebrow.

"It's nothing," Percy says at once, hating the lie.

She looks disappointed.

"If you say so," she says.

 **/**

The following weeks are miserable. Percy finds himself reaching out for an invisible Annabeth, sometimes in front of Calypso, which is mortifying beyond belief. It's just. Ugh. He can't _help_ it, okay? He'll be walking back home from school and he'll spot a familiar tree or person and the first thing he thinks of is Annabeth. He spies, at his usual hot dog stand, a menu item that had been their favorite as kids, and he turns around, radiant, to tell Annabeth, but she's not there. She's probably back at school with _Will._

Percy kicks a rock. It flies straight into a wall and falls down. Percy wants to do the same.

He gets home in a foul mood; his mom shoots him a look as he trudges to his room and leaves him be. He shuts the door behind him and collapses heavily onto his bed.

He closes his eyes, hoping for sleep, but instead he sees Annabeth. Annabeth smiling as Will touched her hair, Annabeth brushing past him in the hallway without a second glance, Annabeth yelling horrible, mean, hateful things at him, Annabeth telling him about her red string, Annabeth plopping herself down on the bed next to him, Annabeth smiling at Percy's first swim meet, Annabeth. _Annabeth Annabeth Annabeth_ she's driving him insane and she doesn't even _care_.

In his heart he knows he's being unfair. To her. To Calypso most of all. God, he's being a shitty boyfriend but his heart isn't in it anymore and he doesn't know what he feels about anything anymore. Calypso makes him feel infinitely better about a lot of things but something about their relationship also feels…off, and he doesn't know what it is or why the feelings still persists even though they've been together for a couple months, now.

His phone buzzes.

 **From: Cal [5:11 PM]**

Hey you free?

 **From: Percy [5:11 PM]**

yeah guess so

 **From: Cal [5:13 PM]**

Cool. Can I come over? Just wanna talk

 **From: Percy [5:14 PM]**

sure

He casts his phone aside as Calypso confirms she's on her way. There is a vague sense of dread in his heart at her ambiguous text. "Just wanna talk," she'd said, but who knows what _that_ means, and god knows Percy's had this coming for a long while.

About ten minutes later, she slips into his room. The only light is the setting sun that streams through a narrow gap in his curtains, and it turns her hair into a sheet of shimmering bronze.

"Hey," she whispers, and Percy's heart sinks because yeah, it's happening.

"Hey," he responds.

She sits down next to him on the bed, fingers laced together. Her hands are shaking slightly. He holds them and she offers him a grateful smile. She really is gorgeous. Percy's a dick. He's such a dumbass for hurting this girl.

"So," she says, in that same soft voice, "I just…wanted to talk. About us."

"Yeah."

She looks him straight in the eye. "Percy. I really like you."

"I like you too," he says, and it's sincere. He does like Calypso, she's great. She's like…a spring breeze. Calming and cool and warm at the same time, smelling of flowers. He really thinks she's changed his life for the better.

"I know," she responds, and her eyes are suddenly watery. "But…we're not…right. Together. For each other. I think we've both known that for a while." She looks down at their hands. "I care about you so much, and I know-I _know_ you care about me, I'm not blaming you, but I don't feel right about being with you when your heart isn't in it."

And suddenly Percy is shaking, because if Cal leaves him then he's _alone._ He'll be alone and he won't have Cal or Annabeth to lean on and what will that mean?

He squeezes her hands in pure, disgusting desperation. "I know I've been…distracted. I can be better. We have something, the two of us—"

"We do," Cal says, eyes glinting. She grips his hands as hard as he's holding hers. "Of course we do, but I think…I think we both know that we aren't…" She looks at him almost pityingly. "Soulmates."

And there it is again. Soulmates. That one _stupid_ word is going to ruin him, isn't it?

"It doesn't—"

"Of course it matters to you," she responds at once. "I know you, Perce. I know how much soulmates mean to you, and this string — our string — isn't red." She holds up her hand. He follows the string from her thumb to his, bright purple. Purple, for first love. Purple for first love, but certainly not the last.

"I think we've always felt it," she says quietly.

Percy closes his eyes. "I—What did I do wrong?"

"Nothing!" She's in his face now, both hands cupping his cheeks. "Nothing, Percy, you were wonderful and I'm so, so thankful for you, but we're not soulmates and I know that's always been a factor for you. And-And I think you know that you've never felt as strongly about me as you have for other people, and that's okay, because I don't regret a single moment of our time together."

He shakes his head, feeling more confused than anything. "You thought I didn't feel anything for you?"

"Percy," she sighs. "I know you loved me, and I loved you too, but…that's all. Don't you see? Didn't you ever feel it? Some things, some people, are just…not meant to be together. I don't think there's anything we could've done about it." Her smile is a little bitter. "Not when fate's involved."

He is silent, watching her as she draws away from him slightly, wiping her tears with a quick swipe of her hand.

"So," he says hollowly, "that's it."

"That's not _it_ ," she says, "I still love you and you'll always be my closest friend. Just…we won't be—"

"A we," he completes. "We'll be a you, and a me. Not a _we_. Not an _us_."

She drops her gaze. "No."

"I'm sorry," he says.

"No, I'm sorry." She's crying again. "I didn't—I didn't want to, but god I felt so _guilty."_

She's not making sense. "For what?" he asks.

"Nothing. Everything. I don't know." She stands wearily. "Just. I'm sorry, Percy. But once you get over the first wave of hurt, you'll understand that I'm right." She shoots him a tentative smile that he doesn't return.

She swoops down and kisses him lightly on the cheek. It feels too much like farewell.

"What am I supposed to do?" Percy manages to get out. "Just sit here and…wait for the first wave of hurt to pass?"

She looks at him, eyes boring into him like a laser. "I think you know what to do."

He blinks at her once, twice, and then she's gone.

Suddenly Percy is exhausted, more exhausted than he's ever been in his entire life. He collapses against the pillows, trying to think about what Calypso had said, but nothing's sticking other than the fact that she'd said they weren't meant for each other and Percy can't shake the feeling that he's made a horrible, horrible mistake by letting her go.

Cal had been great for him. And he'd hurt her, hurt their chances by focusing his attention on someone else, on the stupid red string that he's probably never going to get.

The stuff she'd said…what did she even mean? Percy's so confused by it all and so hurt and so guilty and so _alone_ that he can't even think. She'd said…she'd said he would know what to do.

Does he?

In the dark, his fingers find his phone. He scrolls down, down in his list of messages until he finds Annabeth's.

 **From: Percy [7:01 PM]**

we broke up

 **From: Percy [7:01 PM]**

can you come over

He casts it aside again, straining his ears to listen for the sound of a reply, but there is none.

Well, he thinks, there it is. Calypso had been wrong. And so had he.

He hauls himself up because it makes him feel more in control, but ends up staring at nothing in particular, thinking about Annabeth and Calypso and himself and how he'd gotten his dumb ass into this mess.

His phone is silent.

And then, miraculously, his door opens, and Annabeth peeks in, pink-cheeked, hair dishevelled, like she'd run all the way to his house. To him. For him.

She takes a single, cautious step inside, as though waiting for him to explode, and suddenly Percy's so overwhelmed by everything he's feeling that his eyes begin to overflow and his entire face begins to burn.

Annabeth sits down facing him, and Percy wants to sob, because Calypso's just left him but _god_ Annabeth Chase is a sight for sore eyes, even though she looks paler than usual and her hair is a mess and there are bags under her eyes. She looks at him the same way she always has, calculatingly, but her gaze is also full of sadness and sympathy. There's no hate. Percy releases a long, shaky breath.

"When?" Annabeth asks him quietly. It's the first sentence she's directed at him in weeks.

"An hour ago." His voice is shaking embarrassingly.

"Why?"

"I...don't know, or like, maybe I do, but I also don't, I don't know," he whispers, and suddenly Percy is a mess, he wants to bury his head in her lap and cry and cry because of how much he's fucked shit up for everyone. "She said we weren't right for each other. I don't—I don't...I don't get it."

Because he does, and he doesn't at the same time, and it's all a blur and all he knows is that he wants things to uncomplicated themselves and he wants to go back to the days when the biggest problem in his life was to, like, not puke up a 100 blue jellybeans.

"Oh, Percy," Annabeth murmurs. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry." She sounds so sincere that it breaks his heart.

"I don't understand where I went wrong. What I did." He tries to put his thoughts together. "I mean, I know…I could've been better to her. As a boyfriend. And...we weren't perfect, we fought, but—I just. I don't know."

He balls up his fingers into fists, anxious to hit something. Even himself. This is all his fault. If he'd just…been better, to Annabeth and to Cal, none of this would've happened. If he hadn't been a coward and run away, none of this would've happened. He wouldn't have hurt Annabeth, his best friend in the whole world, or Calypso, possibly the kindest soul in the planet. And he's only got himself to blame.

Suddenly, Annabeth grabs his shoulders and he's forced to look right at her. Her eyes are steely, the way they get during a debate.

"Percy," she says sternly, "you didn't do anything wrong. Trust me. If she broke up with you, it must be because of her own issues. It doesn't...it doesn't mean that it's your fault."

But it is. It was. It's always been his fault, right from the moment he figured out that Annabeth's string had changed color and confronted her the way he did.

"I can't stop thinking about it." Unable to look at her anymore, he looks at the bed beneath them, and a tear slides off his nose and onto the blanket. "Annabeth, I-I..." He has to say it. He has to apologize for all he's put her through.

"Hey, don't beat yourself up over this," she says soothingly, pulling him into a hug before he can say anything, and Percy wants to cry harder at how achingly familiar her arms feel around his torso.

"I didn't know who else to tell, who else to call," he breathes out, and Annabeth makes a small 'mmm' sound. "Annabeth, I was so mean to you, I stopped talking to you, I—"

"Hey, hey," she says, firm again. "Let's not — I mean. Just. Don't think about that right now."

He thinks about it. He wants, more than ever, now, to clear the air between them once and for all, but, well, he's not alone anymore. He's got time to talk to Annabeth, now and forever, so he nods, clutching her like a lifeline as he feels the tears come down harder.

"What could I have done better?"

"Nothing," she whispers. "Nothing."

And suddenly everything crashes down on him like the weight of the world on his shoulders, and Percy cries and cries while Annabeth gently lays his head down onto a pillow and runs a hand through his hair. And just like she used to, she plays some music and turns the volume up to max so nobody can hear him cry, all the while saying she's got him, that she's there for him.

He's not gonna lie, it's a comforting thought.

 **/**

Post-breakup, Percy gets his life back on track.

He begins to swim in earnest again, waking up at dawn and using the local pool, doing extra laps after school. His coach nods approvingly and tells him he's in good shape for regionals, and there'll be scouts there, too.

He begins to apply for colleges. NYU, USC, UCLA. He focuses on colleges with a good swimming program. Paul and Annabeth read over his statement of purpose till it's perfect and he dives into work. It feels good to be in control.

Calypso grew more distant in the weeks that followed, but she always made sure to smile at him every time they crossed paths. Percy returns the smile with equal enthusiasm, and sometimes runs to catch up with her in the hallways. He misses her, he does, and sometimes he feels a painful lurch in his chest when she smiles and laughs with someone else, but he also feels at peace, and he doesn't miss her with the same intensity as he had with Annabeth. The purple string that connects them constantly reminds Percy that he'd loved her and she'd loved him, but it really wasn't meant to last. He supposes that means Cal was right about everything. They aren't soulmates, and that's okay. They still talk and text and they sometimes walk home together when Percy's stayed late for swim practice. They'll be okay.

His friendship with Annabeth grows stronger, stronger until it's hard to believe they ever stopped talking at all. She slots right back into his life, calling him at 2 AM when she's freaking out about acceptance letters, coming over after school, ruffling his hair with a sparkle in his eyes.

God, Percy can't live without her.

Everyone had raised eyebrows when they'd walked into school together that first day, not talking much but still smiling, still interacting, but they'd all accepted it without much comment. At lunch, he made sure to sit next to her, and Reyna and Piper had exchanged an amused look, and Will had shot Annabeth a thumbs-up. And then, after a couple of minutes of small talk, Leo had raised his can of Coke, yelled, "It's about time," and just like that, boom. Everything felt normal again.

He's beginning to learn more about himself. He's kind of a mess, he'll admit, but he also is okay with himself. He's not perfect, and clearly he's got some blocks he's got to break through, specifically in the communication department, but he loves his life and his friends and his family and he's glad everything worked out in the end.

He begins to calm down, not overreact at things. He watches Annabeth and Will interact and it becomes painfully obvious that Will sees Annabeth as nothing more than a good friend. He follows Will's gaze one day in lunch and finds it leads to Nico di Angelo, Hazel's half brother, and Percy makes up his mind to introduce them, as an apology, and also as a thank you to Will for being there for Annabeth when he wasn't.

He makes peace about Annabeth's missing string. Whatever color it is, green or blue or red or brown, Percy's okay with it, because his string to her is still yellow and Annabeth's eyes sparkle when they make eye contact and that definitely means she doesn't hate him. If she chooses not to tell him, well, it'll always be a tough pill to swallow, but he's going to be okay with it. Annabeth is allowed her secrets, and it's okay that Percy doesn't know this one. He knows every other little detail about her, down to the way she bites her lip when she's thinking and the way her lips quirk upward in a smile when Percy cracks a really bad joke. Annabeth is…she's his best friend. And Percy does love her. He's not quite sure in what way — he supposes the line between friendship and love has always been a little smudged when it comes to them — but he's content with what they have now, what they've always had, a cool, easy friendship that means more to Percy than anything else in his life.

They sit side by side in his living room. His mom and Paul are out, and Annabeth had offered to give him company while they studied for finals. Percy's rereading the same fucking paragraph for like the fifth time, when Annabeth says, "Hey."

Glad for a distraction from the textbook, Percy drops his finger from the page. "Yeah?"

Annabeth looks uncharacteristically nervous; she ducks her head when Percy's gaze meets hers. Percy's eyebrows furrow in confusion, but he waits, and after a few seconds, Annabeth looks up again, eyes wide.

"I, uh," she says, in a small, quavering voice, "I wanted to tell you something."

"Uh huh?" He closes the textbook.

Her mouth opens and closes like a fish. Percy wants to point it out to her, but it'll ruin the moment, so he doesn't. Annabeth looks like she's struggling with finding words, which, again, is not like her. Annabeth's always been ready with something to say.

"I'm glad we're not fighting anymore," she admits in a rush.

He lefts out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. "Me too," he says, smiling, because god, this, them — Annabeth and Percy together — makes everything in the world seems all neat and aligned and right. He never wants to fight wither again. "I mean, for obvious reasons, but also...you're so scary when you're mad." He looks at her curiously. "You're not still mad, right?"

"Dude, no." She grins at him.

"Oh, god bless." He claps his hands together; Annabeth snorts. "I really didn't know how long you were gonna keep that up, 'cause holy shit, dude, you're stubborn."

Her eyebrows raise, and her eyes glint. "I can still take it back—" she says in a singsong voice.

"No, no, no, I'm just kidding!" Percy says at once, unable to hold back a smile. She rolls her eyes, laughing lightly, and landing a light punch to his shoulder.

"Jesus Christ, we're _actually_ horrible," he says, laughing.

She laughs, too, but her face quickly settles back into an expression of seriousness. She speaks confidently and fast, like she's got to get everything off her chest at once. "I wanted to apologize. Properly. For, uh, like, everything. I was...really bitchy."

Percy rests his head on his hands, struck by the determined look on her face. "No more than I was."

"Yeah, but...I pushed you away," she says, guilty. "After Calypso. That was my fault. I ignored you and I yelled and I—"

Which is all true, but— "I lied to you," he interrupts. His ears burn just remembering it. "About my red string. That was the first time I ever lied to you." He chews on his lip, ashamed, once again, as memories of all the thing he'd said fill his head. "I-I don't even know why I did it, I...I dunno. I guess, when you told me you had a red string, I kind of felt...left behind." It's the first time he's admitting it aloud, and it feels humiliating but also good. Freeing. Looking back on it, he can't even imagine how he'd allowed himself to get so caught up in the bitterness.

" _Percy,_ " she says.

"Which is dumb, I know," he continues. It seems as though everything's coming out, now. "I was just. I mean, I was happy for you, obviously, I wasn't lying about that, but I was also a little jealous. That you got your red string."

He stops, because suddenly his heart is aching and he wants nothing more than to add, "And that it didn't link to me," but that would make him a hypocrite, because his half of the string is still yellow, and because Annabeth deserves to find her soulmate more than anyone, and, well, Percy doesn't have the right to interfere.

"You have...no reason to be jealous." She inhales. "A-and, Percy. About my red string. I—"

"I don't wanna know," he cuts in at once, filled with a new resolve to be better, to not pry. Does he want to know who her string links to? Heck yes. But he doesn't want to make her feel like she's obligated to tell him anything just because they're best friends.

"I mean, I do, _duh_ ," he amends, "but there's a reason you didn't tell me in the first place, and so...I guess I'm gonna respect that. I acted really shitty and possessive before, like I-I owned you or something, and I was rude to Will, too, because he was being a good friend to you, something I wasn't being. So...I don't wanna pry. You'll tell me when you wanna tell me, if you _wanna_ tell me, and...I'm okay with that. Or I'm gonna learn to be." And he finds that he really does feel okay with not knowing. Even if Annabeth's soulmate is someone horrible and repulsive like Luke.

Annabeth regards him closely, and then her entire body seems to soften. Maybe it's relief.

"Thank you," she whispers.

It's quiet for a while: Percy grasps at his mind for something to say, anything, besides what he really wants to tell her. Annabeth shifts uneasily, not meeting his eyes.

"Fighting with you sucked," he says finally. "And I acted...really, really badly. Your secrets are yours; I shouldn't have pushed you to tell me something you were clearly uncomfortable dealing with. I just made it worse for you. I don't want something stupid like that mess with us again."

She looks at him, half-smiling. "That's...surprisingly mature of you," she says.

"I'm sick of this whole red string drama." He lets out an exhale like he's convincing himself that he's telling the truth. "It's totally overrated. But other than that—" He holds up his pinkie, yellow string gleaming, "No secrets." He pauses, suddenly aware of what he's saying. "Unless you don't wanna tell me," he adss quickly. "Because, like, I totally respect your decision. Whatever you do." He groans. "I ruined it, didn't I."

She laughs, then, a sound that fills him with relief. She holds up her pinkie, too, and links it with his. He sees his own yellow string just fine, and wonders what color she's seeing on her end.

"No secrets," she echoes.

He wonders if they both really mean it.

 **/**

Graduation comes and goes and suddenly everyone is moving on.

Annabeth gets into Cornell just like everyone knew she would. She opens the letter with shaking hands, surrounded by her stepmom, dad, little brothers, and Percy, and when she reads aloud, "We are pleased to inform you that —" they all roar in jubilation as Annabeth springs off the couch and launches straight into Percy's arms.

She'd hugged him first, even before her father. It makes her happier than he'd like to admit.

Percy receives his acceptance letter from the University of Southern California barely a few days later, and it's a swimming scholarship, which helps out his family _so_ much, and he's filled with so much relief that he almost cries. Annabeth's already crying into his chest and his mom is sniffling into his shoulder while Paul pats his back and says, "I knew you could do it," over and over.

And Percy thinks that he'd maybe like to stop time, because these people are family, and now he has to leave them.

He spends the rest of the summer with the rest of his friends, playing video games at Jason's and going on nature walks with Grover and jogging every morning with Frank. The whole gang meets up often enough, but Percy finds himself spending more and more time with Annabeth. Just the two of them.

It's great. They have Movie Nights every day and they go to the old park they used to visit as kids and they drive around the city and just…talk. They talk enough to more than make up for all the months they spent hating each other (but not really), and then suddenly it's a day before he's leaving for college, and Percy is suddenly struck by the thought that he might not be able to be without her.

He's going to miss her. He's going to miss her so much, maybe even more than his mom. He just. He just can't stand the thought of not being in the same city as her. Because Percy and Annabeth, they're meant to be in the same place, living intertwining lives. What if she meets her soulmate in college? What if she finds someone else and everything goes to shit again?

He shakes the thought out of his head as the doorbell rings and Piper bursts in as he opens the door, sobbing uncontrollably into her shoulder. She's leaving too, in about two weeks, and clearly seeing all of them leaving one by one is undoing her.

"I don't wanna go," she sobs. "I don't want you to go."

"I don't wanna go either," he admits, hugging her tightly. "But hey, we'll all still stay in touch. We'll meet up back here for Christmas and we'll all exchange presents and eat until we puke."

"Sounds good," she mumbles.

He releases her. The rest of the group is aww-ing; Grover, teary-eyed, smacks a hand to his back. Jason gathers Piper up in his arms while she cries into his shoulder.

He looks around at the rest of them. Everyone's sitting around the TV and talking and laughing and eating. Annabeth's not here yet, but a quick glance at his phone confirms that she's on her way.

Calypso tugs at his sleeve. "Hey, I've gotta go soon, but could I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure." He leads her into his room and then turns to face her. "What's up?"

She looks around the room and Percy suddenly remembers that the last time she was here was when they'd broken up. He clears his throat. "Congrats on getting into Davis."

"Oh yeah," she smiles. "I'm stoked."

"It's weird," he says, "leaving."

"Yeah. Even though I wasn't here very long." She looks up at him. "I just…wanted to thank you, Percy. You welcomed me with open arms, and got everyone to accept me. And even though we didn't work out…I just want you to know, you're really special to me."

"Aw, Cal," he says, face heating up, "you're really special to me, too."

She rummages in her little bag for something. "I wanted to give you...this." She holds out a pendant to him. It's a leaf, he sees, glimmering small and silver in the middle of her palm. He takes it from her, squints. "Hey, it looks just like…"

"Moonlace," she beams, and they both look at the silvery leaves of the plant growing in his window. Percy feels warm and tingly all over as he looks at the charm in his hand.

"Thank you," he says. "You didn't have to."

"I wanted to," she insists. "A keepsake, something to remember me by." Her smile turns mischievous. "You'll probably forget all of us the moment we leave, we know you've only got eyes one person these days—"

"Shut up," he protests, ears burning. "It's not like that, you know it."

"Oh, I do," she says, laughing smugly, and suddenly Percy remembers that Calypso, like Rachel, like his mom, can see all strings of all colors. That means…

Before he has time to think about it anymore, her phone buzzes and she sighs.

"I've got to go," she says, hugging him swiftly and kissing his cheek. "Take care of yourself, Percy."

"You too," he murmurs into her hair. "Keep in touch."

"Definitely," she says. "I'll miss you, Percy."

"I'll miss you too, Cal."

She hugs him again. "And for god's sakes, _tell_ her." They both know who she's talking about.

Once she's gone, Percy tucks the silver leaf of Moonlace into his pocket. He feels oddly lonely, but also composed. Calypso, he thinks, will always be his what-if person. Despite it all, he'd been happy with her. She'd been joking about him forgetting her, but Percy doesn't think he ever will, and he'll always wonder what life could have been like if she hadn't broken up with him, and where that would have left him with Annabeth.

Still, he thinks, life's this way for a reason, and he's kind of liking where he's going right now.

Percy goes out into the living room and sits down; Jason looks at him sympathetically and Percy shrugs at him in response.

Moments later, however, a distraction arrives in the form of Annabeth, who Piper immediately latches onto. Percy gestures for her to sit next to him and she does, and Percy's nerves calm almost at once. He wonders why she has that effect on him. Then he wonders what it might mean.

The rest of the night passes with them watching old Disney movies and eating cookies as fast as his mom can make them; and then suddenly it's late and everyone's looking around awkwardly, aware they have to leave.

Everyone is hugging him, then, and wishing him good luck and telling him to call whenever, and Percy's eyes are prickling as, one by one, they close the door behind them.

Annabeth's excused herself to the toilet — he knows she's just trying to hide her tears — but when she's out and packing up her things to go, Percy suddenly cannot bear the thought of watching her go.

He clutches her hand. "Stay."

"Percy," she sighs.

"Ask your dad," he pleads, staring at her as pitifully as she can

"I don't have any clothes, or...anything," she relents, and Percy grins in victory.

"Borrow mine," he says. Annabeth lifts an eyebrow, so he tries again, "Please? I...don't want this to end right now."

"Okay," she says, giving in with a smile, firing off a text to her dad. She gets a reply almost immediately, and the response must be in favour of the plan, because Annabeth smiles and settles down on the couch again.

"Don't make me regret this," she says.

"You won't," he grins.

And they don't. They have so much _fun_ watching Lord of the Rings and eating cookies and trying to say the dialogues faster than the other. Annabeth tries to make a blanket fort and it fails spectacularly and she throws pillows at him until he stops laughing. They move on to Harry Potter, and then they binge Voltron, and they're onto Legend of Korra, and Percy's pretending to waterbend by sprinkling water everywhere, and Annabeth's howling with laughter and kicking him repeatedly.

Suddenly she looks at the clock, and then back at Percy. Percy's happiness dies real quick then. He's supposed to leave in two hours.

They switch off the lights and lie down side by side. Annabeth's lying on her back, eyes closed, breathing softly. He watches her until he can't stand it anymore.

"Are you awake?" he whispers.

Annabeth sighs. "Yeah." She looks at him. In the dim light, her eyes gleam an eerie silver. Her hair is spread all over her pillow like it's weightless. Percy feels his breath catch in his throat.

He turns over to face her. They're really close and his heart is beating really, really fast. He can't see her expression, which is frustrating, because he kind of wants to know if she's as nervous as he is at the proximity. They've been plenty close before, of course, but this feels…special. Intimate.

He kind of likes the butterflies he's feeling.

"Can't sleep?" she asks.

"Nah," he smiles.

"Me neither," she whispers back.

He sits up, feeling jittery. Annabeth tries to mimic him but ends up lying down again.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asks.

"I'm not sure."

She touches his shoulder. "Calm down," she mumbles. "You need to rest right now."

"So do you." He laughs lightly, fondly. "Now I feel a little guilty for keeping you here all night."

"Shut up," she says. Then, as an afterthought, "This is—perfect."

"I was thinking the same thing," he agrees. It has been the best kind of farewell. It almost makes him forget he's leaving.

He lies back down, first stealing all the blankets in an effort to lighten the mood, but then deciding against it and throwing it back over Annabeth. It's quiet. Annabeth's breaths are slow and even, but he can feel her watching him.

"I wish I didn't have to go," he admits.

Her breath hitches as she answers. "Me, too."

"I don't wanna leave." He sounds like a child but it hurts and it sucks and Percy doesn't want to go. He wants to stay in New York, with Annabeth and his mom and Paul, where everything makes sense.

He doesn't even realize he's crying until Annabeth reaches out and touches his cheek.

"No," she says, her voice, shaking, "don't—" She chokes back a sob, and suddenly they're both in tears, and they cry until Percy opens his eyes to see Annabeth looking the most pitiful he's ever seen her in the dim lights, and he can't help the snort that comes out.

Annabeth looks offended, but she begins to laugh, too. He supposes he isn't in a better state than she.

He stares at the ceiling after he's done laughing. There's a stain on it from the time Percy threw an orange straight through the ceiling fan. He lets out a long breath, feeling sad all over again. Again, he wonders if he's making the right choice.

"You're thinking too much," Annabeth mumbles.

He looks at her in surprise, and she smiles back fondly. "I can tell," she says. "You've got that look on your face."

"I'm not trying to," he retorts.

"But you are." She shuts her eyes. "Thinking is my job, anyway, Seaweed Brain. Think about something else."

"If I could, I would be asleep right now," Percy says.

"Point taken," she replies. It's quiet for a few moments, and then she asks, "Are you going to cry?"

The bluntness of her question makes him laugh shortly. He thinks about it, though. "Maybe. I mean, probably. I've already cried about it, but…" Ugh, and here come the tears again. He presses his palms into his eyes to stop them.

"You're allowed to cry more than once," she murmurs, but her voice is shaky and he can tell without looking at her that she's crying, too. God, they're just kids. They shouldn't have to deal with this.

"Percy," she says quietly a little later.

"Mmm." He's struggling to keep his eyes open.

"You're my best friend," she says. "I love you."

That makes him smile, and he links their pinkies together, imagining, this time, not a yellow string tying them together, but a red one. He barely has to think about his response — he means it with every inch of his entire being. Hasn't he loved her since they were kids? Since the day they discovered their string to each other?

He's not sure in what way she means it. He's not sure in what way _she_ means it. But he can say without a shadow of a doubt that he loves her, he loves her so much it makes his entire chest feel crushed under an enormous weight. He doesn't care if they're not soulmates, if her red string is for someone else. Percy's never been more sure of anything in his life.

"I love you, too."

 **/**

In all his years of oversleeping, Percy cannot remember a single time Sally has woken him up with such a tender, sad expression on her face. It's always been _Percy, wake up, you're going to be late for school!_ as she threw the covers off him and rushed to make him breakfast while he turned around and mumbled, Five more minutes.

"Five more minutes," he says now, hoping it's cheer her up, but her face crumbles and she moves away.

Annabeth stirs next to him, blinking rapidly. It's really cute. He smiles, and she pokes him in the cheek.

"Wake up," she says. Percy groans.

"You have horrible bed head," she responds, smiling a little.

He can imagine. "Like yours is much better," he fires back. She looks fine, honestly, just a little sleep-deprived, but she wrinkles her nose and moves her hand to check her hair. Percy catches it before she can. It's nice. Her fingers are warm and she stares at their linked hands like she can't believe it. A stray curl falls over her forehead.

"I like it," he says aloud, catching the curl between his fingers.

"You just said it was horrible." She rolls her eyes and pulls her hand out of his. Percy misses it at once. "C'mon, you have to get up."

He scoots a little closer, linking their ankles together. "You still sure you wanna come?"

"I can't _not,_ " she responds.

It makes him smile. "Haven't you had enough of me crying?"

"I'm hoping for more," she says, eyes gleaming. "I'm taking videos this time. Sending it to everyone we know."

"Rich," he says at once, "coming from Miss Niagra Falls yesterday." He doubts he's seen Annabeth cry that much in their entire lives. The last time he'd seen her that depressed was when the debate team lost at Nationals.

"Ha ha," she says.

They stand, stretch; Annabeth disappears into the bathroom to change back into her own clothes while Percy takes a last look around the house. His mom squeezes his arm, but gives him space as he wanders the house. He stops last at his room, staring mournfully at the pale blue walls with peeling posters of bands and swim teams and pictures of him. A lot of them show only Percy as he grows up from a knobbly-kneed child to a (fairly) assured teenager, but there are a bunch that make him smile. There's a very old picture of his mom holding him high above her shoulders when Percy was just a baby (Percy is gurgling happily in that one), him and Grover hugging a tree, him on a podium after winning his first gold medal, him and Jason asleep on the floor, arms and legs akimbo, covered in nachos and popcorn, Percy and his mom and Paul posing under the Christmas tree. And then, of course, there are pictures of him and Annabeth. Tons of them: Percy and Annabeth holding up their pinkies to the camera, Percy and Annabeth on the couch gazing intently at the TV, Percy and Annabeth laughing at something. Even then, their eyes sparkled when they looked at each other. Has he loved her that long?

He tucks little objects from his room into his bag at the last minute: Cal's Moonlace pendant, his trusty ballpoint pen Riptide, the faded old orange t-shirt from summer camp, and a framed picture of him and Annabeth from when they were kids. Annabeth's got a beetle in her hair and Percy's front tooth is missing. Annabeth smiles when she looks at it, but it's sad.

It takes a lot of effort to leave; Percy is silent the whole way in the car, thinking about all that he's leaving behind. He supposes he's being a bit melodramatic, but there's something really heartbreaking about leaving the only home and people he's known all his life.

The airport is large and loud and neon and Percy's sorrow is, all at once, replaced with a mind-numbing fear. They're at the security check-in and Percy's got to go alone from here and holy shit he doesn't want to.

His mom cries as she hugs him and Percy feels like a child all over again in her arms. Paul hugs him too, whispers a good luck in his ear, and then Annabeth's in front of him and all he wants to do is break down.

So," he says.

"Yep," she says, meeting his eyes, then looking away like it hurts. "I guess this is it."

He hates those words. _This is it._ They sound so final, so irreversible.

"I'm gonna miss you," he says, finally. "Like...you don't even know how much."

"I know," Annabeth says. Her voice cracks a little and she clears her throat. "I'll miss you the exact same. If not more."

"Wanna bet?" Percy says, and then, unable to stop himself, he pulls her into him, wrapping his arms around her, his eyes fluttering shut almost automatically as he breathes in the lemony scent of her hair. She's shaking like a leaf as her arms circle him, but they still fit together so well, so perfectly, that Percy's half-expecting a small _click_ sound as their bodies slot together.

"You're the best," he whispers into her hair. "I'll Skype, text, call...I'll do everything."

"Same," Annabeth says quietly.

He steps back from the hug, holding out his pinkie and the yellow string glints in the harsh light. "You swear?"

Her eyes grow wide, but she nods and links her pinkie with his. Percy looks at their linked fingers, at his own yellow thread and Annabeth's bare finger, and just that little bit of contact makes him feel all tingly again, so he hugs her again just to feel the feeling again.

"Love ya," he says, because there's really nothing else left to tell her. And. Well. He wants her to know he loves her.

"You too," she says in a small, choked voice.

And then she's stepping back and then. She's in front of him and looking up at him with those eyes and it's like he's looking at her for the first time, because Annabeth Chase, even when she's teary and tired and her whole body is drooping, is absolutely stunning, and Percy loves her. He loves her for her sarcastic sense of humor and her passion and her stubbornness and her wit and her determination and her drive, and he loves her.

And there she is, barely a centimetre away from him, and her lips are parted and she smells like lemons and it's driving him crazy—

They both step away. Annabeth is blinking really hard, like she's waking up from a dream. Percy kind of gets it. His whole body feels like it's been charged with a million volts. He wants to—

He wants to be that close to her again.

If only he wasn't getting on a plane and flying halfway across the country.

"Okay." He takes a good look at them, then grabs his hand luggage, because staying longer will only make leaving harder. "I'll see you guys soon."

"Call when you finish checking in," his mom says at once. "Call when you're in the flight. Call when you land. Call when you get to campus—"

Percy snorts; Paul looks amused. _Moms._ "Call every step of the way, got it."

"We'll miss you," Paul says. "Good luck, son."

Percy has to choke back a sob. "Thanks, Dad," he says, and his mother buries her head in her hands, and Annabeth smiles through her tears. It's the first time he's called Paul that. It's something he should've made clear to his stepdad a while ago, because Percy's always seen Paul as his father, as always being part of the family.

Finally, he looks at Annabeth. She looks on the verge of saying something, but apparently can't and holds up her pinkie instead. Percy does the same. His yellow string falls to the floor and extends to her, and even though it disappears halfway, turning into whatever color is on Annabeth's end, Percy smiles.

"See you," he says. "Keep yourselves busy."

A last wave, and he turns around and begins to walk away.

"We'll miss you!" he hears his mom call, but he can't turn around, he can't because he's sure he won't leave if he does. Every step hurts, but he takes it anyway, and hey, this isn't the end. He'll see them all soon.

As he rounds the corner, though, he catches a glimpse of Annabeth. Her head is high, watching him.

In the plane, Percy feels horribly alone. His heart is thumping, not only because he hates flying, but also because he's leaving home and starting college and wow. Who would've thought he'd make it here?

He's kind of excited, but nerves take over again as the pilot announces that they'll be taking off soon. His hands are shaking and he clasps them together to steady himself.

That's when he sees it.

Red. Red. Red! Red like a stoplight, like the perfect apple, like a fire truck. A red string, coiling around his finger and off into the distance — he can't see where it goes.

His heart feels like it's going to burst, but there's an odd sense of relief spreading through him. Maybe he's always know, deep inside. Maybe he's always hoped for this, too.

He stares at the string, all the hairs on his arm standing up on end. His thoughts churn like water in the ocean as he stares at the innocent thread tied to his finger.

And not just any finger.

It's his pinkie. He'd only ever had one string on that finger, and it had been yellow. A yellow so bright it had almost been white, a yellow that stood for a decade of friendship. Annabeth's yellow.

He takes a breath. _"Fuck."_

 **/**

The months that follow are _torture._

So. Well. Now he knows. Annabeth is his soulmate and Percy is her soulmate and they're each other's soulmates and it—it makes perfect sense.

He'd had a lot of time to…reminisce, on the plane. To look over every single moment that hadn't made sense to him back then and look at it again through Annabeth's eyes, knowing that her string to him was red and knowing that his half wasn't.

It makes him feel a whole new kind of shitty.

Because that very first day when Annabeth had acted all nervous when they'd talked about it? She'd just learned that Percy was her soulmate, but she wasn't his. Her hesitancy about Calypso? Well, it must've sucked to see him fall for another girl. Her sudden friendship with Will? Well, given the fervent, forlorn looks the other boy shot at Nico, Percy supposes he must've been in the same boat. The reason she hadn't told Percy about her string? It was because she knew Percy didn't feel the same way. The proof was in the strings and his had still been yellow at the time. The way she'd withdrawn from him after he'd started dating Cal? She hadn't wanted to get in the way of Percy and Calypso's relationship. And Percy…Percy had succumbed to his petty jealousy instead of supporting her. He'd even insinuated that his string to Cal was red, when it had really been purple.

He'd put her through hell, hadn't he?

Cal had known, he realizes with a jolt. Calypso had known, and she probably suspected his string would turn soon, and that's why she'd mentioned feeling guilty for dating him. And his mom had probably known, too. She hadn't questioned him about the fight, hadn't asked him why Annabeth suddenly stopped coming over. She'd known the whole time and watched Percy fuck everything up. It makes him feel like a dumbass.

His first thought is to tell Annabeth. To call her as soon as his flight lands, to text her. To e-mail her. To put it on a fucking billboard and announce to the world, _I'm your soulmate!_

But also…he wants to see her face. In real life, not through a screen. He needs to do this in person, which gives him like…three months to sit on this information.

Great.

So Percy settles into his new routine at college. It's strange and new and a little jarring but it's fun, and his new swim team is called the Trojans, which is badass as hell, and he's enjoying a few of his classes and he's starting to make a couple of friends.

He still keeps in touch with his old ones. He and Jason video call a lot, Grover calls at least once a week, and he and Piper text constantly. Sometimes a bunch of them have conference calls, which is chaotic and loud and he can never really tell who's speaking, but it's still really fun. Like old times.

He and Annabeth talk constantly. She calls to tell him the most mundane things, like how her roommate is just as much of a History nerd as she is, and how she loves her new professors. Percy doesn't understand more than half of what she's talking about, but he's happy at how excited she sounds and it makes him feel special that she still wants to share this stuff with him.

His roommate spots him smiling at a selfie Annabeth's sent him one day, a dimly-lit picture of Annabeth hiding behind a huge book, and he whistles. "Cute. Girlfriend?"

"Soulmate," Percy corrects.

"Hey, congrats."

"It's complicated," Percy admits.

His roommate lifts an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Well," Percy says, "I'm her soulmate, and she's mine, but she doesn't know that my half of the string is red now, and she doesn't know that I know that it links to her."

"Sounds more complicated than it needs to be." He laughs, claps him on the shoulder. "Hope it works out, man."

"Me, too."

So it turns into a game that he begins to play with Annabeth, only she doesn't know she's a part of it. Percy does all he can to keep his hand out of sight, and he tries equally hard to get her to show her own hands. Annabeth's just as conscious as he, keeping her string out of sight, not knowing that Percy knows that it's already there. It's kind of funny, and it's something to do while he waits.

And wait he does. Percy waits and waits as the months go by — he visits New York for Christmas, but Annabeth's in Boston visiting her uncle and cousin, and so Percy waits some more. And every time they talk or text or Skype his feelings for her grow stronger and surer until Percy's convinced he never could have loved anyone else at all. He can't wait to tell her. He can't wait to see the look on her face when he shows her his red string. She's probably going to judo flip him right in the middle of the airport, but it'll all be worth it.

And then it's the summer, and Percy and Annabeth haven't seen each other in person in about a year, but he's got a plan.

"Tomorrow," he says into his phone. "Don't forget."

"How could I?" He can hear her smiling. "You've only reminded me, like, a million times the past week."

"Still," he stresses. "And come alone, don't forget."

"Okay, okay," she grumbles. "Make _me_ carry all your luggage."

"Damn, you figured out my plan."

"Sure, idiot." She pauses. "You should go to sleep. I won't be able to pick you up if you miss your flight."

"Sure," he says, smiling.

"Okay, Seaweed Brain." She exhales. "See you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow," he says.

She hangs up. Percy stares at his red string and smiles a little to himself. The thought of seeing Annabeth again and confirming that they're soulmates is giving him butterflies all over again. He wants to give her a big hug and apologize for everything. He also kind of wants to kiss her senseless. He grins.

She's totally going to beat him up.

 **/**

Percy's entire body shakes in anticipation as he gets off the plane and gets his luggage from baggage claim. He can hear the noise all the way from down the hall, where people are waiting for someone: a friend, a mother, a brother. And somewhere in that crowd is Annabeth.

He nearly sprints down the hall, bags in tow: they swing annoyingly behind them and keep hitting his legs, but he doesn't stop running. He must look insane to the rest of the people behind him, but he doesn't care.

And then he's facing a hundred or so people; there's a surge from the crowd as many move forward to receive the passengers. Percy narrows his eyes as he looks for Annabeth. There are too many people: Percy has to keep dodging outstretched arms, moving his luggage out of the way and sidestepping.

A flash of blonde, and Percy gets tunnel vision, and he can't move, he can't breathe.

There she is.

She looks…perfect. Her skin is tanned and her eyes sparkle and she looks good and healthy and _strong_ (Percy prepares himself for the inevitable judo flip). She's got a little piece of cardboard that says SEAWEED BRAIN on it. She's helping up a little girl with a smile on her face. Percy can almost hear her saying, "Are you okay?"

And then, finally, he looks at her hand.

Red.

For the first time in two years, Percy can see Annabeth's half of their string, and if he follows his own, he can see clearly how it leads to her. Oddly enough, he's getting a little choked up. It's just...he's waited for this moment for _so long_.

Annabeth looks up. Her eyes search the crowd, brows furrowed, and then she gazes straight at him.

For the longest moment, they both stare at each other, and then, all at once, they both begin to move toward each other.

Nothing matters anymore except getting to her, touching her, making sure she's real. Percy discards his bags — they did nothing to help him go faster — and pushes through the crowd. His arms are outstretched and it's like some cheesy romcom but he doesn't care.

Annabeth lets out an enormous sob as they crash into each other; his arms circle her and he buries her face into her shoulder and whispers her name. Annabeth's clutching his shirt so desperately she might tear it up but he doesn't care. It suddenly feels like they're underwater, because everyone around them fades into a monochromatic blur, and it's like they're floating in their own little private bubble.

There's a wet patch on his shoulder when they finally detach themselves. Annabeth wipes her tears, looking embarrassed at herself, and Percy catches sight of the red string as she does so. He grins. She evidently hasn't realized it yet, or maybe she's just trained herself to stop looking for something that won't be there.

But it is.

He steps forward, closer to her, so close he can see the last of her tears on her lower lashes. Annabeth's breath hitches as their foreheads touch, and her eyes grow wide and questioning. God, he really wants to kiss her, but there'll be time for that later.

He lifts up their tangled hands, which have somehow found the other in all the mess, and links their pinkies in a smooth motion.

She looks at their hands curiously. He watches, waits, and then sees the confusion in her face slowly turn to realization, and she uses her other hand to cover her mouth as she lets out a cry. Her eyes are watering again, and his might be too, but her lips are already turning upwards into a smile so full of relief it makes his entire being tingle violently like he's going to spontaneously combust.

Their red string glints as he holds their hands up between them, unbroken at last, and Percy smiles.

* * *

 **a/n:**

fyi:

●calypso _did_ know the whole time. so did sally.  
●there was a betting pool in their high school about who would end up ending up with percy at the end of the year. percy found out when he borrowed jason's phone to make a call and saw notifications from the group chat, but he never told annabeth because he thought it might make her awkward.  
●piper ends up winning the money, having been one of the first people to bet on annabeth.  
●percy attaches calypso's moonlace pendant to a chain he wears around his neck. also on it are annabeth's college ring that had once been her dad's, and a small shard of coral annabeth gifted him when they visit montauk.  
●percy introduces will to nico that summer.  
●everyone freaks the fuck out when percy and annabeth kiss in front of them for the first time.  
●and they all lived happily ever after :)

i apologize for making percy a total dumbass. it might seem out of character but amplifying his feelings like that was the only was i could seem to justify his actions.

i also want to thank percyyoulittleshit for motivating me to start this fic, DaughterOfIris23 for helping me finish it (and also beta-ing and generally being the most supportive person ever), and shar and conner, who are my besties and i love them and they're always so excited to hear about all my stupid fics.

read annabeth's side of the story! it's just as messed up, i guarantee it.

also contact me on tumblr (i'm seaweedbraens on there too) if you wanna talk.

thanks for reading, and drop some feedback on your way out if you can!


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